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.