- Moroto slums residents in Tudor on Saturday night defied the curfew, ganged up against a vigilante group
- Police beat up residents in other parts of the county including Likoni, Changamwe and Jomvu
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Police used force to impose the 7pm-5am curfew in Bombolulu, Mombasa, after defiant residents continued with their business long after nightfall.
Moroto slums residents in Tudor on Saturday night defied the curfew, ganged up against a vigilante group, beat one of them senseless and marched to the Makupa police station demanding the arrest of all members of the group.
This happened as Interior CAS Hussein Dado patrolled the streets of the coastal city to assess the curfew and was incensed by what he saw.
Police beat up residents in other parts of the county including Likoni, Changamwe and Jomvu.
Oblivious of the danger they were exposing themselves and others to, Mombasa residents defied the curfew.
By 8pm in Bombolulu, shops still open, boda boda operators were at work, groceries were still open and people were wandering about.
The Star saw three sets of mother and child, younger than five years, walking about.
CAS Dado slowed his vehicle as he passed Bombolulu sports area towards Bombolulu workshop stage while touring the town.
It was as if the curfew did not apply to Bombolulu residents who were still out by that time, with no one seeming to be in a rush to get home.
Earlier, Dado had rebuked a group of about 100 people who were late for the last ferry at Likoni.
They arrived at the crossing channel at 7.10pm.
The group, including women and children, had to be stopped by the security personnel and searched because they did not go through the security checks at the turnstiles.
“Why do you want to test the patience of the government? Do you think the government is joking about this Covid-19? You Coast people are disappointing us!” Dado said.
Mombasa county commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo on Saturday evening said specialised units would be deployed to ensure 100 per cent compliance.
“It shall be done. We shall make them walk faster,” Kitiyo said.
He was responding to observations from journalists who said residents in Kisauni, Mwandoni, Bombolulu and Bamburi were violating the curfew.
Dado and Coast regional coordinator John Elungata warned Kenyans against provoking the police.
Speaking at the Likoni ferry crossing channel, the two said by 7pm all Kenyans should be in their homes.
“There are video clips on social media where people are heard saying ‘We will not move out of the road until we are teargased’,” Dado said.
That, he said, was provoking the police and asking for trouble.
He said boda boda riders, for instance, were flouting simple directives like carrying one passenger, wearing a mask and providing one for their clients.
“Today, we stopped a boda boda rider carrying three people. It is like some have become mad people,” Dado said.
Tudor, Maweni and Vikwatani residents accused the local administration of colluding with vigilante groups to whip residents in the name of enforcing the curfew.
Brian Juju, a resident of Tudor, told the Star the chief in the area had been walking with sungu sungu (vigilantes) to beat anyone found outside their houses on Friday.
“They beat up people, even those who were on their door steps. They were using sticks and pipes to beat people,” Juju said.
On Saturday, it took the intervention of Tudor MCA Tobias Samba to save the life of a member of the sungu sungu, who had been cornered by the Moroto slum residents.
“I had to risk a thorough beating from the residents as I shielded the man who was being lynched,” said Samba.
Led by Samba, the residents were matching to the Makupa police station to protest when they were stopped by police at the Makupa PCEA church.
The Makupa OCS calmed the mob before talking with them after they registered their complaints about the vigilante.
Samba told the Star the sungu sungu, who walk in groups of about 15 people, were terrorising residents in the name of enforcing the curfew.
“Sungu sungu should stay indoors like the rest of us. They are not police,” the MCA said.
He cautioned the local administrators colluding with the sungu sungu that their days were numbered.
“The sungu sungu cracked the skull of one Moroto resident on Friday. The residents said they would not take the matter lying down. Tit for tat,” Juju said.
Muslims for Human Rights rapid response officer Francis Auma said they had received reports of the similar happenings in Majengo.
Community policing members, he said, were abusing their privileges.“That is thuggery,” Auma said.
Edited by Henry Makori