Garbage millionaires: Jobless city dwellers strike gold in Dandora dumpsite

Apart from numerous health hazards, Dandora dumpsite has for a long time been associated with insecurity. There was a time when carjacked vehicles were driven there, and the occupants assaulted and stripped of their valuables. But once a safe haven for armed hardcore criminals, the place has turned into a theatre of tuff wars among gangs fighting over control of the lucrative trash business.

At one point, the vicious fights spilled over to the surrounding informal settlements of Dandora and Korogocho where rival gang members fought each other with the ferocity of dogs on heat. This was in 2013 when a trash lord only known as Mulusia alias Daddy was killed in Korogocho. Daddy’s murder triggered a wave of violence that lasted for almost one month as two gangs fought over control of the dumpsite.