Revealed: How complex Moyale human smuggling thrives

Some of the 67 Ethiopians arrested in Utawala, Nairobi, in September 2017.? Promise of a better life takes Ethiopians and Eritreans on ardous and perilous journey on lorries, buses, taxis, police vehicles and on foot through the ruts and vast parches of Kenya’s northern frontier counties.

Mwendwa speaks Amharic with near native fluency for someone who grew up and spent most of his adult life in Kitui, more than 1,000 kilometres from Moyale where he now resides.

Yet, his mastery of Amharic has set him apart as the man that hundreds of Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants with aspirations of migrating to South Africa seek when they need a ‘fixer’ to help them move across Kenya.