Terrified Kenyans continue to narrate their ordeals in the hands of goons who infiltrated the GenZ protests across the country last Tuesday.
They include senior state officials who had been caught up in traffic as they drove from work on their way home.
Other affected were traders whose businesses were raided, looted and premises vandalized, innocent citizens attacked as they went on with their daily hustles, as well as police officers who responded to the demonstrations across the country.
None were spared and have tales to tell.
"I paid goons to get passage of sections of the road they had barricaded using stones and manned. I had to part with cash to move forward," a senior state official told the Star on Thursday.
He paid Sh1,000 twice in cash, Sh2,000 in total since the goons declined to be paid through Mpesa.
"I was lucky I had notes, they didn't accept Mpesa. Luckily, police later came and cleared the mess," he narrated.
The official said it was a terrifying experience that nobody would wish to go through just because some Kenyans took the law into their own hands in disguise of the ongoing anti-government protests.
"As if paying the goons wasn't enough, I inhaled teargas that police officers lobbed to disperse the goons as they cleared sections of the barricaded road," the said.
Several sections of various roads were blocked and live fire was lit by the demonstrators across the country.
In Machakos County, for instance, the Nairobi - Mombasa highway was barricaded by some demonstrators at Mlolongo town thereby completely paralyzing transport.
Several roads were also barricaded by groups of rioters in Machakos and Kitengela towns.
The Nairob -Namanga highway was blocked at Kitengela town, Kajiado County where goons placed stones on its sections and sat on them.
They at some point attempted to vandalize the Nairobi - Expressway within the Mlolongo area but were repulsed by a contingent of police officers.
The protestors turned goons and later reportedly turned their rage to private properties.
They raided premises, destroyed properties and looted several enterprises not only in Mlolongo town but also in Kitengela, Machakos, and Nairobi, among other towns.
Those who spoke to the Star expressed their frustrations as they narrated how they lost their livelihoods to the demonstrators.
They said it was unbelievable for them to lose their businesses worth millions of shillings which they had nurtured for years just in less than 20 minutes or so.
Among the victims of such looting was Felister Mueni, Gaslight club proprietor, who told the Star she lost valuables close to Sh10 million to the goons.
Her business, Gaslight Club and wines and spirits wholesale store is located in Mlolongo.
Mueni said she, from the club, lost valuables worth Sh3.5 million to the goons, while the same criminals carted away valuables worth over Sh5 million including liquor from the wines and spirits wholesale store.
She said she stocks expensive alcohol, including those retailing at Sh20,000 a bottle
"Other than alcohol, they made away with other items like chairs including computers which I was using to manage the business,” she added.
She said more than 500 goons broke into the premises located along the Nairobi–Mombasa highway during the chaotic demonstrations.
Mueni said she had suffered unimaginable losses in the business she had nurtured since 2018.
Several other businesses were equally looted in Mlolongo, Machakos, and Kitengela towns on the fateful day ranging from phone shops, hotels, and clubs, among others.
Some police officers who had been deployed to cover the demonstrations also expressed their frustrations citing court orders restraining them from using teargas canisters, rubber and live bullets alongside water cannons during the nationwide demonstrations.
“It’s really difficult to handle the situation. How are we expected to counter these hooligans given that they are armed with all sorts of crude weapons while our hands are tired of using reasonable force? We are deployed to counter the demonstrations, with restrictions though even though we have necessary machinery to deal with the hooligans,” a cop told the Star.
Several police officers across the country have equally sustained injuries while others lost their lives as a result of the nationwide demonstrations.
“We are struggling to deal with the situations, we have nothing left other than diplomacy; just engaging the rioters through dialogue despite how dangerous some are. Some retreat after we reason with them, while others still proceed to cause mayhem. It’s a difficult operation,” a senior cop told the Star.
Some police officers were however forced to discharge live bullets to disperse and scare away a group of demonstrators who attempted to break into a shopping mall along Mombasa road on Tuesday.
The mall hosts a major supermarket, at least two hotels, and banks, among other businesses.
The culprits scampered for safety thereby saving the mall from break-ins, vandalism, looting, theft and such.
Several citizens also narrated to the Star how they were injured in various parts of the country under different circumstances.
Deaths were also reported as a result of the demonstrations.
Machakos County Police Commander Patrick Lobolia acknowledged that the demonstrations were infiltrated by goons across the county.
Lobolia said a public service vehicle belonging to a sacco which isn’t authorized to pligh on Machakos routes was impounded at Machakos police station after it was found ferrying hooligans into the county to causing mayhem.
“The so-called picketing become non-peaceful when stones are thrown, people looting other people’s property and when people start to block roads,” Lobolia said.
He ordered that all demonstrations end by 6.30 pm in Machakos county.
“We want the demonstrators to follow the law and disperse by 6.30pm. You will be risking past that time since it’s being infiltrated by criminals which is dangerous not only to innocent Kenyans, but yourselves, protesters too,” Lobolia said.
He warned that those found breaching the law during the protests including picketing past the stated time would be arrested and charged in a court of law.
