A distressing video showing Nairobi City Council employees harassing and assaulting hawkers living with disabilities has left a bad taste in the mouths of viewers who are now calling for the intervention of Governor Johnson Sakaja.
In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter), and which have been seen by Citizen Digital, at least four Nairobi city council askaris, popularly known as ‘Kanjos’, are seen roughing up one PLWD, who sprawled on the ground, crying for mercy and berating the officers for their brutality.
As a crowd gathers, another female hawker living with disability is heard repeatedly asking one askari why he had to take away her mobile phone.
“Mnipatie simu yangu! Umesema simu yangu ichukuliwe kwa nini wewe? Ni wewe umechukua!” she hisses at an askari.
Beside her, yet another disabled female hawker is seen rolling on the ground, saying “Hatuendi! Hatuendi!”
As the commotion escalates, the askaris are now seen attempting to drag the hawker who had been rolling on the ground earlier, even as she screams and groans for help.
“No, no, no… What is this!? Let’s show the Governor,” a voice behind the camera is heard saying before the commanding askari says, “Na watu watoke hapa!”
Kenyans on X have been deeply incensed by the video with many castigating the city council officers for their savagery and apparent cruelty meted on the women.
“Yaani hivo ndio hawa watu hu treat wamama walemavu? These women can easily be the mothers of these kanjus! And they’re dragging them around kama gunia! Absolutely unacceptable! Sakaja kazi yake tu ni kusema ‘Lazima iWork’. Nkt!” one X user posted.
Another user @kimutaijane said, “They’re doing this in broad daylight! And they’re being recorded! Imagine what they do to these women after dark, wakati hakuna cameras! Very barbaric human beings! They deserve jail!”
On his part, user @jameskamau said, “Weee jamaa wa ‘Lazima iWork’ amka! Hawa kanjo wako wanaua wamama in broad daylight! Shame shame shame!”
Early August, hawkers within the Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) decried harassment from county government officers famously known as Kanjo.
While speaking to the media then, Peter Njoroge, the chairman of the small scale traders in Nairobi County said the officers had been making random arrests and demanding for bribes before they could release goods back to the owners.
“The way the county government officers are operating is not right and all we shall do now is pour to the streets and demonstrate,” said Njoroge.
