How i was raped by boys aged 13 in Nairobi

NairobiNews

Child gangsters, some as young as 12, are holding Nairobi residents at ransom.
Residents walk in fear as they increase their grip on estates, according to Nairobi County Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu.

There are more than eight child gangs on the prowl in the city, he revealed.

Their presence is forcing businesses to close early — and private security guards hired by the businessmen are failing to provide proper protection.

The gangs specialize in crimes ranging from extortion, muggings and robbery to the rape of girls, women and boys.

Gang members often inhale jet fuel, ‘msii’ in the local slang. Parents, teachers and school administrators live in fear if them as they dominate crime in city estates and know no fear, even of death.

Teenage girls Female gangsters, mostly teenage girls, are used as spies and informants who mark out victims and distract them with flirting or sex. Other gang members disguise themselves as parking boys, picking up trash from apartments as they spy on their next victims. One such gang called Superpower mainly operates in Eastleigh, said Mr Ndirangu, a member of the Nairobi County Security Committee.

“This group is one of the gangs that we were targeting during the Eastleigh operation that began a week ago,” he said.

It also operates as an illegal vigilante group notorious for extorting money from businessmen. The ‘40 Brothers’, ‘Young Talibans’ and the ‘Siafu’ are other gangs of young boys that operate in the CBD, Baba Dogo and Kibera. The Young Talibans, according to Nairobi County deputy police chief Moses Ombati operates in Dandora. Its members, mainly schoolchildren, carry knives to class and threaten teachers and fellow students alike. Police were aware of the group but said they had drastically reduced their numbers over the past year.

“Since we declared war on them two years ago, we have managed to arrest several members and unfortunately, most of them have even died by police bullets,” Mr Ombati said.

He added: “We have started to collaborate with parents and teachers to give information that can help us arrest these boys.

“The challenge however is that people fail to give information because of fear, yet we always make the information confidential.” The child gang that attacked and raped 14-year-old Alex (see adjoining report) is called ‘Nesco’. Disguised as a football club, its members are carefully picked and are mostly school dropouts aged between 13 and 16.

On Wednesday, Stephen Muema alias “Stevo” was killed by police officers as his mother watched in horror in Mukuru slums. A few hours earlier, Stevo and his two accomplices, all in their mid teens, had robbed a neighbour of household goods at gunpoint.

Street children who work at the massive Dandora Dumpsite are also part of Nesco and are used by the gang leaders to lure primary school children to their gang, using free lunch as bait.

Another gang that operates in Dandora Phase Three comprises yobs between 12 and 19 who steal, carry out muggings and even sodomise their victims.

The Gaza gang in Kayole recently made headlines after it attacked a TV crew that visited the estate to record a live programme. The group of 20 boys aged between 13 and 16 years attacked the presenters with knives and machetes and demanded that the TV station paid them for shooting the programme in the area.

Members forced their way into the tent where DJs and cameramen were stationed and stabbed a security officer before stealing equipment.

Mungiki sect According to residents, Gaza, which derived its name from a popular Jamaican criminal gang, operates like the outlawed Mungiki sect in Kayole.

“They walk in groups of 15 to 20 armed boys. They are very young school dropouts and they easily attack the people who do not obey their orders. They go around collecting fees from businessmen and they fear nobody,” said one local resident, Mr Joseph Munyao.

He said a few of the boys still attended school.

“They find you in the streets and approach you and befriend you. You think they are your friends that they want to help you get sponsorship in a good school. If you refuse, they can even kill you,” said Joseph Mathenge, a 15-yearold standard seven pupil at Dandora’s Tom Mboya Primary School.

Teachers at Tom Mboya Primary School, who also fear for their lives admit the gangs have infiltrated their classrooms and there were children who were considered to be untouchables, even by school administration.

Primary school children who are members of these gangs were known by name, but also by their behaviour and by the tattoos on their arms.

“They use geometrical compass and sharp thorns to draw these tattoos.

They paint their gang’s logo on their arms and this is like a form of baptism to signify that you have officially joined the gang,” said Mercy Oloo, aged 14.