Unmasking Dandora's Trash Lords

By HUDSON GUMBIHI

The Dandora dumpsite is under the tight stranglehold of about 10 men jealously guarding their ‘business empire.’

Nicknamed the ‘dumpsite lords’, the 10 are said to be ruthless and unscrupulous when transacting or sealing deals at the site, where beneath the mountains of garbage, lies a treasure in form of plastics, empty glass bottles, tin cans, polythene, rubber, cartons and scrap metal.

The men further operate a Mafia-like cartel that revolves around gunrunning activities and illegal connection of electricity in the neighbouring Korogocho slums.

In Dandora, the tension and fear of the gangs is evident. Many residents including provincial administrators and police are not willing to talk. Or even be seen speaking to strangers.

The gangs seem to have amassed power and influence in the capital’s expansive region just as the mounds of garbage turned into a mountain over the decades.

In the past week a gang lord identified as Mulusia alias Daddy was stabbed to death on the night of October 14.

Little information was revealed to the police and the media about its origin and the identities of the rival gangs.

The police even expressed fears to The Nairobian that the gang fights were out of hand since it involved guns.

Apparently, the government has largely ignored the vicious cartels that have existed for years as the environmental problems arising from the Dandora dumpsite have been of major concern.

A resident who only identified himself as Ken told The Nairobian his neighbours are now more concerned with the insecurity gang warfare in Dandora has created rather than health problems the dumpsite’s pollution causes.

“It is rare for residents to go there (the dumpsite) because the place is infested with armed criminals,” said Ken, a small trader.

A local government official, who ensured nobody was within the vicinity as he talked to this writer, said: “You know this information is sensitive and classified” as exposure as its source could get him killed.

Daddy’s murder triggered a wave of violence the following day in which two of Daddy’s aides, one only known as Muchelule, were traced and killed.

Calm returned when Senator Mike Sonko and county police commander Benson Kibue toured the area brokering a truce before five guns were surrendered by members of the warring camps.

Attempts to trace Daddy’s house in the labyrinth that is Korogocho proved futile. None from members of the local administration and residents, including the usually helpful boda boda operators was willing to offer assistance.

Daddy’s killing was a retaliatory attack by a gang that wants his group out of the site. The gang, which allegedly enjoys the backing of Dandora District Officer Andrew Kimani, was not also happy that some of their members were facing a criminal case at a Makadara court.

They were released on cash bail on September 12 after serving two months in jail for assaulting Harrison and Kichi, who together with the late Daddy formed the nucleus of the “dumpsite lords”, whose real identity is a mystery to many including police and provincial administration.

DO Kimani dismissed the claims that his office has taken sides insisting that he has been instrumental in negotiating the peace between the two groups at barazas.

“There is nothing like gangs in there but only turf wars. It is the likes of Kichi who are controlling and dictating (garbage) prices of the outside market. In fact most of the people working there and mainly living in Korogocho are related through marriage,” said the DO.

He said Kichi and four other men head a group of between 800 and 1,000 people working at the site – a situation he said is the source of frequent tension.

“It is about four or five men who want to be overlords. They want to be sold all the products, which they then resell to the outside market. This is the problem because one group feels exploited especially after realizing that the price of an item has remained constant at Sh8 when the same fetches Sh30 outside (Dandora),” Kimani said.

Daddy is also accused of dealing in illegal connections of electricity in Korogocho. His gang allegedly taps electricity from the national grid.

The rival camp that killed him wants to control the illegal electricity business connection in which subscribers pay a monthly fee of Sh300.

Kimani disclosed that Kichi’s team ousted a group of eight men who were in charge about three years ago.

“They were working together but the eight were chased before the overlords took over, so it is a cycle. I am only speaking the truth so that our youth are not exploited,” the administrator said.

According to Kimani, the long-term solution is to either have the county government manage the site or relocate it.

The dumpsite is the official waste material hub since the 1970s. It is close to other heavily populated low-income estates like Mowlem, Kariobangi, Lucky Summer, Baba Dogo and Huruma.

Other names that popped up on the gangs that are leading resistance against “exploitation” include the monosyllabically named Jeshi, Masha, Washiro, Touchman, Njoro and Munga.

An official said the late Daddy and Njoro on several occasions clashed in Korogocho over the control of supply of the illegally tapped electricity from the Kenya Power and Lightening Company.