‘I was having a bad day’: ‘Kanjo’ at centre of city car drama says

The Nairobi city centre was rocked by chaos on Tuesday morning after an attempt by inspectorate officers to tow a private vehicle quickly went awry, leaving one man injured and three parked cars damaged.

It all began when three officers, commonly referred to as ‘kanjo’, arrived with their break-down vehicle to clamp a silver-gray BMW which was parked near Jamia Mosque along Banda Street. They were on orders to tow the parked vehicle, Koja Ezekiel, a man sub-contracted by the City Inspectorate Office, said. 

Without confirming whether the owner had paid for the parking spot, the officers clamped the vehicle and began towing it towards Kimathi Street. Upon seeing the vehicle being taken away, by-standers near the vehicle tried to explain that the owner had already paid for parking. However, they remained adamant and would hear none of it. 

The adamant inspectorate officers got into their breakdown vehicle, registration number KAE 870F that had a yellow Nairobi City County board written number 4/3/16, and began to move the car.

Attracted crowd

By this point, the altercation with inspectorate officers had began to draw a crowd of onlookers. Interested bystanders, passers-by and boda boda riders were drawn into the drama, which the owner of the towed car was trying to resolve, and closely followed the conversation. 

The situation, however, threatened to get out of hand when the witnesses demanded that the clamped vehicle be released as its parking had been paid for.

Sensing danger, the inspectorate officers got into their vehicle and drove off towards Kimathi Street while towing the vehicle, whose steering wheel was locked, thus causing the car to zig-zag and inconvenience other road users. 

Things took a turn for the worst when the driver of the break-down vehicle negotiated a sharp bend while joining Kimathi Street, which saw the clamped BMW, which had no driver, lose control and skid. 

An onlooker, who is also a parking boy along Kimathi Street, was hit by the BMW whose bumper was now being dragged on the tarmac. He was later rushed to hospital.

But this did not stop the city inspectorate vehicle which, in a panic, sped on as the towed vehicle continued hitting several other cars parked in front of Nation Centre. The vehicles, including a black Toyota Avensis and silver Nissan Note, were hit. The break-down vehicle finally came to a halt after hitting a black Subaru Forester. A parked grey Prado missed being hit by a whisker as it was just inches away from the line of impact.

Angry mob

By this time, the crowd of onlookers had grown into an angry mob. They caught up with the city inspectorate vehicle which had been left behind by panicked officers who took off upon realising the extent of damage they had caused. However, the crowd caught up with one officer, who was quickly rescued from their wrath by police officers who were nearby.

The crowd turned its anger to the  break-down vehicle, which was quickly vandalised. Its windscreen was shuttered, bonnet pulled to the ground, the car battery damaged and several wires surrounding the engine cut.

“These kanjos have a very bad habit of harassing everyone in town. We cannot have them chasing everyone from hawkers and now car owners in town. This has to stop,” a motorist who sought anonymity told Nation.Africa. 

While recounting his brush with death, Koja Ezekiel, one of the officers who was rescued from the angry mob by police, told Nation.Africa that he was “having a bad day”.

“Thanks to traffic I missed my usual break-down vehicle. But because I had left home for work, I teamed up with the kanjo manning the CBD,” Ezekiel said.

“I became a victim of chaos,” he added. “Were it that I was in my usual break-down, this would never have happened.

Boda boda riders, however, would hear none of it. They continued pressing for a chance to beat him up. 

“He is notorious. He extorts us with the blessing of the police,” one rider, who did not want to be named, told Nation.Africa. 

“His day is here and we can’t help but revenge.”

Nation.Africa later learnt that the owner of the BMW told police officers that he preferred a charge sheet and would deal with the matter in court.    BY DAILY NATION