For the last four days, some city residents have been attacked and robbed by goons acting with impunity. Police allege the goons are mobilised by politicians to accompany an ongoing presidential tour of Nairobi.
“These are hungry people mobilised to attend the events. They take advantage of the situation to rob unsuspecting Kenyans,” said a senior police officer aware of the situation.
He said they are investigating to know if there was any other motivation behind the attacks.
Police say their hands are tied. They can’t do much because it is overwhelming and all political. These groups move on motorcycles and on foot.
The latest drama was outside Sarit Centre in Westlands where many were attacked and robbed. This has forced mobilisation of more security officers to cover the routes the President used.
Since March 10, President William Ruto has been touring parts of Nairobi for inspection of development projects.
It all started in Eastleigh where goons who purported to accompany and welcome Ruto tried to snatch side mirrors to his official car. The goons harassed and robbed unsuspecting motorists and pedestrians.
From Eastleigh it moved to Mathare, Babadogo, Kawangware, Kangemi and later to Westlands. On Thursday the drama moved to Lang’,ata and Kibera.
On Friday he will tour Eastlands and Kasarani. The trend is likely to be the same.
The gangs have been attacking and robbing unsuspecting motorists and pedestrians caught up in the chaos.
Politicians in the entourage are not spared either. Some reported losing their mobile phones to the gangs.
A police officer too reported losing a gun in an attack in Mathare.
Authorities said they were pursuing the criminals behind the incident. What was more daring were the events of Monday outside State House.
There was drama outside State House in Nairobi when elite police squad confronted a group that tried to breach security to “meet the President for lunch”.
The group of about 500 consisted of mostly youth from slums near Eastleigh and Industrial Area in Nairobi.
The rowdy group robbed and harassed motorists and pedestrians outside State House Gate A for several minutes before police arrived to disperse them.
Other police officers had to turn away cars from the scene as the gang was confronted by, among others, Recce police officers on March 10.
The group had trailed a presidential motorcade from Eastleigh to State House for what they termed as lunch. They hoped to get their lunch from the President or Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja or a host of members of Parliament, who were in the entourage.
The governor and the MPs had mobilised the group to turn up for the events. When time came to leave, the politicians sped off pursuing the President’s motorcade. This forced those mobilised to pursue them too. It ended outside State House.
The security officers had to call for reinforcement to handle the mob, which insisted they wanted to get into the State House. Witnesses said the special squad arrived minutes later heavily armed and pushed the group from the gate.
