Cops Mistake Each Other For Thugs And Exchange Fierce Gun Fire In Nairobi

Kumekucha Weekend Special: Focus on the Kenya Police

The following hilarious incident that happened only last Monday (July 7^th 2008) speaks volumes about the kind of police force we have in Kenya.

Two police units mistook each other for thugs and engaged in a fierce shootout where two passengers inside a matatu caught in the cross fire died on the spot. The ill-fated matatu was going to Eastleigh.

Police have denied the deaths and only said that the two passengers were seriously injured. My sources have however confirmed that the two innocent Kenyans died on the spot and the bodies were loaded into a police vehicle and taken away. This writer is yet to establish where the bodies ended up because they never arrived at Kenyatta National Hospital where police said they were taken “for treatment.” One police officer was injured and taken to Forces Memorial hospital where he was treated and discharged.

The incident took place in Nairobi’s Kariokor Estate and was confirmed by Central police station deputy OCS Richard Mugwai. He said the incident took place shortly before 1 pm at the Racecourse roundabout.

One of the police units in the shootout was from outside Nairobi and was unknown to the Flying squad officers who were obviously in plain clothes.

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Previous stories in this Weekend Special edition;

How Kumekucha was asked to strip naked by the Kenya Police

Unusual and bizarre methods of solving crime in Kenya

Serial rapists in Uniform

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This incident that has even been confirmed by police spokesman Eric Kiraithe illustrates the well known fact that the line between the police and thugs is so thin that sometimes it disappears altogether. Criminals are known to hire firearms from the police to commit crimes for a fee. The advantage in using police firearms is obvious. It means that the gun that committed the crime can never be traced.

Many other times cops are in partnership with thugs who share the spoils with them. The police then shoot them dead when they have outlived their usefulness and also to eliminate the possibility of the criminals ever “spilling the beans” and testifying against them. They then promptly move to the next upcoming gang of thugs and repeat the same process.

In such a situation the question arises as to whether the police will ever be able to win the fight against crime.

This series cannot be complete without repeating the often-told tale of what policemen do when they have no food in the house. The story goes that they grab their uniform and tell mama watoto to boil some water. Before the water has fully boiled they will usually be back with groceries including a kilo of meat. No they did not withdraw the funds from a nearby ATM, what they did was to elicit a bribe from the first person they met by threatening to lock them up for a charge they will figure out later.

Is there really any hope for the rotten society that is Kenya where money is so important that nothing else matters?