Inside rogue kanjo kingdom where bribes, sex buy you freedom

Rev Paul Machira woke up as usual on November 17, 2021. As his normal routine dictates, he left his house to deliver crates of eggs to a guest house on Duruma Road in Nairobi’s city centre.

The Anglican Church of Kenya senior cleric runs a poultry business with his wife and he is the delivery man.

This he has done every morning for many years now, before he heads to All Saints Cathedral to perform his priestly duties.

The delivery usually takes less than five minutes but on the fateful day, he did not know what Nairobi County inspectorate officers, popularly known as kanjos, had in store for him.

“I had just taken the last crates to the guest house before I came back to find a kanjo sitting comfortably in the front seat of my car,” Rev Machira recounted.

He was one of the Nairobi residents who appeared before the Nairobi County Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to share their experiences at the hands of rogue inspectorate officers.

The committee has opened an inquiry into harassment and brutality by the askaris following an increase in such cases.

Existing since the days of the defunct Nairobi City Council, the inspectorate officers have become notorious for all the wrong reasons.

From clobbering and killing hawkers to needlessly towing private vehicles and soliciting bribes with wanton abandon, the officers have terrorised Nairobi residents for many years.

Welcome to the infamous kanjo kingdom. Here, corruption is the name of the game and extortion is the modus operandi, with those challenging the status quo met with ruthlessness and brutality.

Made up of mostly semi-literate officers, the force of about 2,000 has morphed into a dreaded ragtag enforcement team that has left many city residents with horrid tales about their experiences at their hands, especially inside the rickety jalopies that they use.

“The askari told me not to move but to open the car for his other colleagues to get in. When I refused, they started hitting my car while calling for a breakdown to tow my car,” Rev Machira added.

This was just the beginning of his ordeal. His crime was parking on the roadside, where he said he was not obstructing any vehicle.

They started struggling to get into the car as the cleric drove around the city. He was overpowered after more than 20 minutes of struggle, and the askari inside the vehicle managed to step on the brakes, bringing the car to a halt.

Like bees released from a hive, the other askaris landed on the reverend with their batons as he was dragged out of the car by the collar of his shirt.

“My glasses were broken, my shirt torn and the buttons ripped. My mouth and nose were almost broken in the commotion,” recalled Rev Machira.

He was then bundled into an old City Hall vehicle and driven around the city centre in circles like a terrorist before ending up at St Peter’s Clavers, the county government’s yard, and the kanjos’ dreaded fiefdom.

“While there, one of them came and asked me why I did not tell them I am a clergyman. I had taken a photo and video of myself while in the jalopy and alerted my church members to come to my aid,” he narrated.

Mr Machira refused to give the askaris any money, saying the case should go to its bitter end. He was taken to a City Hall court and then to the cell. He was only saved after the intervention of his fellow church members and some MCAs.

Suffered a broken tooth

“I was then taken to the seventh floor, where the inspectorate director has an office. He apologised and called someone to release my car, which had been towed to St Peter's Clavers, to be released,” he said.

But this was not the first time that the askaris had roughed up the man of the cloth. He had suffered a similar ordeal on April 8 this year.

That day, five askaris entered his vehicle and told him to drive to St Peter's Clavers when he refused to part with a bribe.

“I remember one of them telling me, ‘Umefanya kosa sasa unasema nini?’ I had Sh30,000 in my pocket but the money was meant to pay a medical bill to discharge my father, who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer at Coptic Hospital,” he said.

But even with his situation, only one askari left the car while the others insisted on getting their hands on the money.

“I told them I will give the money on the condition that they are ready to receive my father’s illness upon themselves and their children,” he said. 

“At that point, one left but I had to give the rest Sh2,000 before they could go away. That is the day I vowed to never let any kanjo inside my car.”

For Mary Wanjiku, a hawker, she suffered a broken tooth, and had her baby snatched from her as she was frog-marched to Central Police Station as her child cried.

“I was not booked with any offence at the police station. When the child kept crying, they took me to the general store before letting me free,” she told the committee.

But the harassment by unscrupulous askaris does not stop at soliciting bribes. They also ask for sexual favours as one hawker (name withheld) narrated.

The female hawker said that askaris often demand sex in exchange for freedom from women traders who are not able to raise bribe money.

Beaten senseless

“You get bundled into the pickup alone and then they ask you for sex in order to set you free,” said the woman.

But the case that is still fresh in the minds of many people is that of a hawker named Anthony Maina, who lost five of his teeth at the hands of three kanjos in July this year because he failed to give a Sh100 bribe.

Appearing before the committee, he did not want to talk about the ordeal, fearing for his life as he had been paid more than Sh400,000 in an out-of-court settlement deal with askaris and his broken jaw and teeth fixed.

He only said that the incident happened at around 7.30pm when three kanjos approached him demanding a bribe.

“They demanded Sh100 but I only had Sh20 because I had just reported to work late in the evening. When I showed them the Sh20, they said it was disrespectful. I can barely recall what happened thereafter as I did not wake up until I got to the hospital,” he said.

But his friend who witnessed the incident, David Mwaniki, said Mr Maina had just come from a burial and decided to sell some of his merchandise so as to get something to take to the house.

Three askaris approached him, with only one in uniform, and demanded money. When he gave them the Sh20, they pounced on him, beating him until he lost consciousness. He said the askaris were new to them.

“I am the one who took him to hospital. He surely did not have money that day as he had just reported to work in the evening after spending the whole day attending a burial. His wife was also sick and he had to find something to take home,” he said.

He said that the parents of the askaris and senior inspectorate officers then approached them to settle the matter out of court, to which they agreed.

Nairobi Metropolitan Services Inspectorate Assistant Director John Magere admitted that the officers indeed asked for a bribe but added that Mr Maina had resisted arrest, leading to a scuffle.

“He resisted arrest and that is why excessive force was used, but the officers were juniors just fresh from training,” he told the Joseph Komu-led committee.

Another trader, Francis Maina, also narrated how rogue kanjos harassed his staff demanding bribes yet he had paid all the required licences.

The 59-year-old, running a business on Kiambu Road, told the committee that askaris operate in groups of three where only one is a genuine kanjo and is in uniform while the others are goons.

On that day, the three arrived at his business premises in a taxi before demanding a bribe of Sh50,000. When his workers refused to pay, the askaris threatened to bundle them into the car straight to St Peter’s Clavers.

“They say they are part of a multi-agency team enforcing county by-laws. When you don’t part with a bribe they will beat you up but if you stand your ground and insist on being taken to court, they will leave you alone. I remember this day they ran away when I told them we go to the DCI headquarters,” he said.

Nominated MCA Doris Kanario also recounted how askaris harassed an Uber driver who had taken her to the city centre. They demanded a bribe.

“As I was alighting from the Uber, three of them approached us and started demanding money. They only disappeared when I showed them my work ID,” she said.

These cases are just the tip of the iceberg, as many more hawkers and innocent Nairobi residents have suffered at the hands of rogue officers.

Even after City Hall in June announced a new training programme for officers with the aim of instilling discipline and professionalism, nothing has changed.

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