NAIROBI
Sydney
advertising executive Patrick Richer led the typical Nairobi expatriate
lifestyle, living in a home in a leafy part of the city, protected by
high walls and round-the-clock security.
But on a
November weekend tragedy struck: a gang of least 10 men cut their way
through a back fence, tied up his guards and raided his home in the
early hours of the morning, hoping to lay their hands on a bonanza of
cash, jewellery and consumer goods. (READ: Gang shoots adverts guru dead)
Richer,
39, was shot twice at close range, and taken to hospital by his wife.
He was declared dead on arrival. The thieves were dressed in police
uniforms and made off with a television, laptops and phones, reports
said.
The case, while shocking, came amid what appears
to be a worsening pattern in the Kenyan capital: a pre-Christmas crime
wave carried out by thieves who are increasingly prepared to use lethal
violence.
"Over the past 10 years or so there's been an
upsurge in crime in November and at the beginning of December, followed
by a downturn in January," Rocky Hitchcock, security consultant at KK
Security, one of Nairobi's biggest private security firms, told AFP.
"For
the festive period Kenyans go back to their rural homes. When they get
there they are expected to dispense gifts. It's a cultural African
thing. You're taking hospitality and so you need to give them
something," Hitchcock explained.
Hitchcock said the
seasonal crime wave was now known in the security business as "Christmas
shopping" -- with burglaries and carjackings targeting expatriates and
wealthy Kenyans on the up.
WEALTH GAP
Nairobi,
which has over the years earned the unfortunate moniker "Nairobbery",
has one of the biggest wealth gaps of any city in the world.
The
rich live in mansions set on landscaped lawns, protected from the world
outside by electric fences, private guards and piercing electronic
alarm systems. Most big houses are equipped with bars and grills
protecting doors and windows, and some have safe rooms offering a last
point of retreat.
But across the city are also
sprawling slums, where millions live in shacks lacking even the most
basic amenities. Each day young men head into the city or industrial
areas hoping to secure casual work, and public parks and roadsides are
crowded with the disenfranchised, sprawled full-length in the grass.
"People
are getting hungrier and hungrier," said Mwalimu Mati, who heads the
Mars Group -- a civil society, political and anti-corruption watchdog.
He said he had received reports of a rise in shoplifting for food across
the country.
"There is that kind of a spike over
Christmas because wealthier people start to travel and so you get
burglaries. Where we are there have been several house invasions. The
security office is quite worried." (READ: State denies claims of security failure)
INFLUX OF GUNS
Although
crime levels are seen as being roughly similar to those seen at the
same period in previous years, armed robberies appear to be on the rise,
according to the private security sector.
"It's partly due to porous borders with Somalia that allow weapons through," explained Hitchcock of KK Security.
John
Ogembo, who works as a guard at a residential house in an upmarket
district of Nairobi, but lives a few kilometres away in the city's
crowded Kangemi slum, said criminals were becoming more and more bold.
"There
are the really dangerous guys who seem not to fear police and can do
carjackings and house invasions, but there are also smaller criminals
looking for a place they can sneak into and get away with what they can
carry... money, electronics, even a nice pair of shoes," he said.
"Everyone wants to have drink and roasted goat at Christmas, and people in the slums have children too."
One
particular crime hotspot is Karen, a wealthy suburb southwest of the
city dotted with colonial-era homes on vast plots of land. An entire
street of houses there was attacked recently, with the exception of the
home of Vice-President William Ruto, whose residence is guarded by elite
police.
In addition, security sources say that members
of the security forces, both serving and retired, are increasingly
involved in violent crime. The lowest-paid police officers earn less
than 200 dollars a month.
Police service reform was one
of the cornerstones of Kenya's 2010 constitution, after it transpired
that many of the more than 1,100 people who were killed during the
violence that followed the disputed 2007 election fell victim to police
brutality.
Analysts say that with an underpaid, poorly
trained force and a standoff underway between the force and the civilian
body that is supposed to oversee it as part of the reform package,
police involvement in crime will continue.
"In the end it's hardly surprising," said one Kenyan executive, who was recently the victim of a carjacking and house robbery.
"When
you look at the conditions that the police officers live in and the
peanuts they are paid, why shouldn't they resort to crime. In the same
position I would do the same thing." (READ: Purging the tarnished Police Service must not be half-hearted or cosmetic)
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