Mombasa confronts street boys harassing residents in CBD

Mombasa county inspectorate officers Saturday came face-to-face with the grim reality of the harassment residents face in the hands of street boys.

On a mission to rid the streets of the children after numerous reports were filed, the officers—led by governance and Serikali Mtaani chief officer Abdalla Daleno—set off from the inspectorate department in Tudor, Mvita constituency.

Their first stop was Haile Selasie Avenue where reality hit them.

A street boy was wrestling a woman, groping her breasts, with the woman struggling to scream but could not because of the tight grip the street boy had on her, covering her mouth.

It was just one of the many incidents that residents go through when in the streets of Mombasa, especially in the CBD.

The street boys have become gang-like, attacking and robbing people at the orders of their leaders, who are usually strategically positioned, monitoring the attack.

The boys are divided into groups, with each gang ruling over a particular territory.

No gang is allowed to operate in another’s territory.

Once they rob, there are particular meeting points where they meet to take stock of the loot.

This is however done only when the gang leader arrives.

The gangs are usually like close-knit families where they protect one another, although more often than not, they can be seen fighting among themselves.

Whenever one of them falls sick, they forcefully hijack a tuk tuk and force the driver to transport them to the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, where they also harass their way in.

Love affairs also blossom in these gangs, with the leader of a gang usually allowed to choose their partner before the others are allowed to seduce the other females on the streets.

“This is unacceptable. We cannot live like we are in a gangster state,” Daleno said after the arrest of at least 50 of them.

Most of them said they are from Tanzania and other countries like Burundi.

The county-initiated programme to round up all street urchins from the Mombasa streets began in earnest on Saturday and will go on until all of them are off the streets, Daleno said.

“We want to ensure Mombasa is safe. We have received many reports of these street boys attacking and robbing people,” he said.

Daleno said the county will partner with the national government to find a way to rehabilitate and repatriate them.

“For those who will show a willingness to be rehabilitated, we will do so and once successful, we will find an income generating venture for them,” Daleno said.

He said the many foreigners that roam the streets raise suspicions that this could be some people’s business venture.

Years back, an investigation into the street families in Nairobi, done by BBC Eye Africa, revealed that it was a multi-million shilling business venture where individuals traffic children and adults from Tanzania into Kenya to work as beggars.

Early in the mornings, according to the investigative documentary, they are dropped by vehicles into their various strategic points of operations, where they beg for money and in the evenings a vehicle picks them up.

Each beggar goes home with between Sh1,000 and Sh3,000, the documentary revealed.

The ‘owner’ of the beggars then collects the money and pays them between Sh100 and Sh200.

On Saturday, Daleno said this could be the same venture that has been brought to Mombasa.

“We have a special team that has launched investigations in collaboration with the National Police Service,” he said.

He said the nuisance has spread to public cemeteries where the street boys spend their nights, scaring passers-by and preventing residents from visiting the graves of their loved one.

“This exercise will be continuous and will take as long as it takes to rid Mombasa of the beggars and street families,” Daleno said.

The most popular spots for the street family include behind Sapphire Hotel near the Mombasa Railway Station, Makadara grounds and the area near Splendid matatu stage.

“We don’t know where they come from and the arrested ones are not willing to speak. It seems they have been threatened into silence,” Daleno said.

He said tracing of their families will be done to know their origin and whenever necessary, they will be deported.