Weed out fake city askaris

The rogue, notoriously corrupt, crude and vicious askaris who have terrorised, especially petty traders and even pedestrians in Nairobi’s city centre over the years, are back with a vengeance. Though now operating under the city county, their tactics are not any different. They are, indeed, worse than the lot that often unleashed terror to supposedly enforce law and order.

Traders trying to eke out a living have suffered harassment and even robbery with violence. In the past, the askaris would seize traders’ wares before arraigning them in the City Court. Hawking in the streets has always been a deadly business.

However, a new challenge has arisen since the election of Governor Johnson Sakaja that has become a nightmare for even licensed traders. A new gang of fake county inspectorate officers is wreaking havoc in the city. Unlike the genuine county inspectors, the crooks operate in plainclothes and do not display any identification as they arrest petty traders and extort bribes.

They will handcuff and humiliate them by taking them on seemingly endless walks in the city centre until they buy their freedom. This is below the decency expected in policing the best city in the East African region.

In fact, Nairobi aspires to become one of the best cities in the world, and even Governor Sakaja had pledged to make this happen on taking charge just over two years ago.

The fake officers found mostly on the eastern side the city target the more than 6,000 hawkers registered with City Hall and thousands of unlicensed ones.

The imposters emerged when the reign of Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) that was headed by a top military officer ended. It is suspected that some retrenched inspectorate officers who retained handcuffs, askari boots and uniforms are behind this vicious terror.

The city county must do whatever it can to end the tyranny by the crooks running an illegal parallel force for extortion.