FAKE DISABLES BEGGING ON THE STREETS OF NAIROBI

By Maritim Kipngetich

Panhandlers we see on the streets of the Kenyan Capital, Nairobi, may not be physically handicapped as they appear to be.

Some have come to the city streets and pretend to be physically challenged, so that they may get assistance from good Samaritans.

morning, a man who has been begging for money along the State House Road near St. Paul Catholic University Chapel, had a rough time after he was forced to stand and move by the city security officers.

The man has been sitting on a dilapidated stretched cotton box from morning to evening everyday for close to two years and begging University of Nairobi (UoN) students and other passersby money, a pedestrian said.

A beggar on the street. Some people have pretended to be physically challenged in order to get assistance.

The city Askaris caught him today in the morning and asked him if he was really physically handicapped. After being forced to stand and walk, he was an able man.

The man who identified himself as Jeremiah Kariuki said he has been begging because he has no other job to do.

He said his search for work reached stalemate about four years ago and he had to look for another way of getting money, begging.

“I have been doing this for sometimes now. I manage to go home every evening with some money, though it is hard to get someone who can really help,” Kariuki said.

Kariuki, who said he lives alone in Kibra, leaves his house very early in the morning for town and go back late in the evening every day.

The passersby, who were mainly students from the UoN, were surprised when they witnessed the man they have always known as disable walking comfortably.

Gedison Rono could not hide his laughter. He said the county government should be checking beggars on the streets and it should try to unmask those who are pretending to be physically challenged, yet they are not.

“I didn’t know this man is health and physically fit. The county government should do something to oust this kind of people out of the city, especially out of the city centre,” Rono said.

Kariuki was arrested and taken to police station by county security officers. The officers said they will arraign him in court so that his case can serve as an example to those who pretend to be physically handicapped in order to get assistance from the public.

SITUATION HAS CALMED DOWN AT UON TWO WEEKS AFTER ALLEDGED THIEVES WERE KILLED BY STUDENTS

By Maritim Evans

Situation at the University of Nairobi Main Campus has calmed down a week after two students alleged to be thieves were murdered in cold blood by their fellow students.

At least no single incident of insecurity has been reported so far and students are happy since they can now stay without fear of theft within the university. Eventhough the two students who were killed were not fully identified as thieves, students still claim that the two together with three other suspects, who escaped, usually snatch electronic gadgets from students who go for night and morning preps.

 Even as the students celebrate the calmed situation at the university, parents of the deceased students are still looking for justice. The two families have been camping at the security desk at the university and demanding to know the reason why security guards  did no rescue their children.

Hall 2 hostel. The suspects were beaten up by students outside this hall.

Even as that continue, this writer sought to know reaction of some students who witnessed the two alleged thieves when they were being beaten up.

“It was like a joke at first since some students beat them and asking questions. I was shocked when I heard that they both died before even being attended by doctors,” a student who sought anonymity said.

According to students, it was not the fall of the students to kill the two suspects. Students said the suspects refused to give names of three other suspects who ran away with a snatched laptop.

“We didn’t mean to kill them. It is only that they refused to talk and tell us who ran away with the laptop. In the process of asking the questions, the students had to beat the two to prompt them to speak, but they did not speak," another student said.

Students cannot sympathize with a thief suspect. At the moment they have identified that one is a suspect, they cannot stop beating one. In fact no one can stop them from doing so, not even university security guards who normally watch it from a distance.

In many instances, security guards usually do not miss some injuries in the process of trying to rescue the suspected thieves.

 Most institutions of higher learning have failed to address the issue of theft and this has made theft be an order of the day. Some universities have tried to safeguard their entrances by not allowing outsiders to enter in, but this has not helped since students are stealing within themselves. Kenyatta University is a good example of a university that has well guarded entrances. But still, theft is common there.  

UON STUDENTS URGED TO STOP DRUG ABUSE

By Maritim Evans
University of Nairobi today hosted a public forum dubbed “Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Management” to address alcohol and drug abuse by University of Nairobi students.
Speaking during the forum, the university Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi urged the students to abstain from drugs saying drugs cannot add anything to one’s life.

UoN Vice Chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi addressing students

“Drug is just meant to destroy your life. As a matured person you should try to avoid them. This things are meant to destroy you completely while you are still young,” he said adding that some students buy costly drugs and they sleep angry.
Prof Mbithi, a professor of veterinary, said drugs abuse is common across all universities and there is need to sensitize students on the dangers of drugs.
“It is not only here at the University of Nairobi where drugs are common. You find that students in other universities in the country are also engaging in the same,” Prof Mbithi said urging the National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) Chairman John Mututho, who was also present at the forum, to campaign strongly against drug abuse at institutions of higher learning in Kenya.
Prof Mbithi said nowadays children as young as 10 years of age are abusing drugs and it has made the fight against the vise hard.
“You find that the minors are also victims of drug abuse,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor however said the University of Nairobi has been engaging in the fight against drug abuse and sexual immorality for years and it will not relent in doing the same.
He said drug abuse cannot be eliminated in the universities but students should be taught dangers of the same. He also thanks the Christian Union of the university for engaging in serious campaigns against drugs and sexual immorality within the institution. He said that is the best way to deal with drug abusers.
In his part, NACADA Chairman John Mututho said they have been going to various institutions of higher learning to campaign against drug abuse. He said students should be at the forefront in fight against the vise since they are the one who understand the dangers of drugs.
“In fact you the learned guys should be fighting this. Why should you consume something you are aware it can kill you. It is high time we say no to drugs,” the Chairman said.
Several student leaders talked and their speeches were dominated by a request for students to stop abusing drugs.

FAMILIES OF TWO UON STUDENTS KILLED LAST WEEKEND STILL LOOKING FOR ASNWERS

By Maritim Evans

Parents of two University of Nairobi Students who were killed by a mob of students last weekend are still seeking to know what made other students kill their children.

It has been a hard time for the two families as the university administration is failing to give them substantive answers of what really made other students kill Julius Omondi Omollo and Fetya Mohammed Yusuf.

The families have been camping at the offices of the Student Welfare Authority at the university since Sunday from morning to evening.

Journalists, who visited the offices, could not be told anything as no one among the security personnel there was ready to share any information with them. Every security guard would say they were not in a position to share any information with the media since they are not authorised to do so.

On Tuesday, the university Vice Chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi sent a statement to newsrooms expressing how students were beaten up and later on succumbed to injuries.

Students beating suspected thieves in the past. PHOTO/COURTESY

“The beating continued but the university security personnel who condemned the act on the spot intervened and they were hurt in the course of rescuing the suspects whom they rushed to the clinic at the University Health Service. One of the suspects passed on while at the university health services, the other one was rushed to MP Shah Hospital where he was admitted but passed on thereafter,” the statement Prof Mbithi sent to newsrooms reads in parts.

The suspects were self sponsored students who are not given accommodation within the university. Their registration numbers, according to university management, portrayed this.

“The two suspects were later identified as non-resident students by their names,” the statement stated.

The university has however condemned the act and warned students against taking law in their saying that is not acceptable.

“The University of Nairobi highly regrets this unfortunate incident. The university reiterates that it upholds the rule of law and has no place for the law of the jungle where people take the law in their hands and condemns strongly the act of mob-justice by the students involved,” the statement added.

According to the statement the university stated that it had contacted the parents of the deceased to condone with them and promised thorough investigation into the matter. A sentiment that was refused by the parents of the students saying they had not received any information from the university and they are still blank on what made other students kill their children.