Nairobi Central Business District Member of the County Assembly Mwaniki Kwenya has been accused of leading an extortion syndicate withing the central business district which targets public service vehicles saccos operating within the city.
Kwenya, who has lately been all in the bad books of the business community in town, is accused of working with his accomplices to collect bribes of 1000 from every Sacco which has pick up stages within the CBD everyday where he has enlisted the services of his illegal band of youths to enforce his extortion syndicate.
According to sources privy to his illegal dealings, Kwenya also works in cohort with rogue city county enforcement officers, famously refeerd to as “Kanjo” (council askaris) to harass hawkers in the CBD collecting illegal tools from them and controlling who should be arrestedwhle hawking and who to be spared.
Insiders close to his circle note that Kwenya uses a well known lady refeerd to as Waithira, who is saidto be the MCA’s clandestine girlfriend who ensures that every hawker arrested by the rogue askaris is threatened to be charged with over three counts once arraigned in court which could attract upto a Ksh 20,000 fine. The victims are then coerced to get into a deal to part with upto Ksh 10,000 fromwhich Waithira and Kwenya pay 1000 shillings to the arresting officers pocketing the rest.
Waithira is well known within the CBD for intimidating hawkers and other small business people in the CBD and has powers to decide who is let to do their hawking business in town and who to be haraased out of business.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has been at the frontline through the Department of Trade under the County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Hustle and Opportunities to ensure the county constructs decent shades for hawkers in select back streets with the intention of centralisingthemin hawking trade districts.
However, Kwenya and his clandestine Waithira has been inciting hawkers to reject the plan and decline moving to the back streets, in a bid to have them stay in the CBD and continue with his extortion syndicate.
Kwenya and his girlfriend Waithira also have cultivated a bilef that only hawkers from a certain ethnicity can be allowed to operate and those from other tribes are harassed out of business by Waithira and Kweya’s ‘operation boys’ who are ruthless.
Just yesterday, Governor Sakaja while officialy opening the Mwariro market said that any person from any tribe can open and operate any business in any part of the city as long as its a legitimate business with proper documents in what was seen as a response to the allegation leveled against MCA Kwenya.
Kwenya, who has christened himselfthe CBD mayor has not been interms with the area MP Starehe Memberof Parliament Amos Mwago who has been opposing Kwenya’s ways of intimidating small traders in town and his tribalism nature in serving the CBD as MCA.
Yesterday, from the same event at Mwariro market, Mwago’s supporters chased away Kwenya’s boys who he uses to intimate people in town. They were chased from the event because of the nature of intimidating innocent business more so from other tribes.
Even as Kwenya continues to harass traders in town he has gone ahead to run illegal businesses. Kwenya has set business premises in containers set in the CBD without paying the necessary rates to the county government while he has continued to resist other businessmen from securing shops in the CBD even after obtaining all the necessary Government documents and paying rates to the county in what has been termed by many as impunity of the highest order.