Carjackers And Highway Robbers Also Have Political Ambitions

The year 2007 has started on a very bad note with the brutal murder of three policemen by gangsters who made away with Sh 22 million that was being transported to the bank, somewhere in Elburgon, Rift Valley province. Barely a week later, six robbers were gunned down in Kawangware in another incident.

This being an election year, is the disturbing crime rate going to soar taking into consideration that there are politicians who need to raise cash fairly fast to finance their campaigns? All indications are that the answer to that question is a resounding "Yes". More so when you consider the fact that cash sources for a campaign are very minimal considering the fact that banks don’t issue loans for electioneering campaigns as the risks are far too high

Even more worrying is the fact that it is not a new phenomenon in Kenya that criminals also have political ambitions. In fact the trend has been on the rise and a number of Members of Parliament today have criminal records, and in some cases the electorate knew about them prior to electing them to parliament.

A case in point is the Kibwezi legislator Kalembe Ndile. It is whispered that he was a notorious highway gangster during his hey days as a councilor at Makueni county council. He was even arrested by police several times and charged with hijacking trailers along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway but always got away with it due to lack of evidence.

More than half of the councilors from Kibwezi between 1997 and 2002 were said to be involved in criminal activities along the highway with one having opened a large hardware store off the expansive highway at a place called Machinery to sell off goods stolen from carjacked trailers.

It is an open secret that civic leaders representing wards along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway especially in Kilome, Makueni and Kibwezi constituencies have dubious pasts including involvement in criminal activities such as selling fuel siphoned from trailers plying the highway.

A former Kilome MP, the late Tonny Ndilinge who was brutally murdered in Nairobi a few years ago also had a criminal history and it was speculated that his murder had to do with his past as the crime has never been solved to date.

It is perhaps only in Kenya where integrity and probity is never taken into consideration when it comes to electing leaders as the one with the deepest pockets usually carries the day by bribing as many voters as possible with ill-gotten wealth which in most cases must have been acquired through criminal activities. It is difficult to dish money like that that you have sweated for.

I should not be mistaken for a prophet of doom but taking into consideration that this is an election year, the crime rate is expected to soar to unprecedented levels ahead of the polls to be held later this year, at a date known only to President Emilio Kibaki.