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So, all of Kenya needed a police officer to tell you the signature looks of young men in our estates, well I would have told you for free as I grew up in a fast growing estate where our “sacco” was known as Kona Mbaya and all the members had a signature look. Kuna day moja this uniform saved my life.
Kona Mbaya Passie aka Kona Mbaya Massive started as a joke, in the evenings as the sun was going down kuna base ma youth wengi walikua wanameet, remember I told you in the early 90s Githurai 45 was sparsely populated, vijanaa wakitoka chuo na wengie wakiwa wametoka job we all used to meet in that ka area ambapo kulikua na an incomplete building and smoke our weed. As the number of youths meeting there increased by day the residents wakaanza kugwaya kupitia hapo juu we looked menacing and the sweet smell of the holy herb was always in the air hence that area was named Corner Mbaya na any youth going there was known as msee wa Corner. Our dressing code was dictated by the rastafari. We were Rebels. We used to wear tight jeans which reached just above the ankle, tight t-shirts with rasta colours, nike or reebok sports shoes and woolen caps known as mavins or red berets, the headgear was to hide the dreadlocks which most of us started growing.
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Reagae was our beat, this music which had been banned in Kenya was now being played by KBC, the only radio station at the time and best of all we had King lions disco, Pupa Leftie, Pupa Charlie and the rest, btw ule ako na mix ya Leftie aniwekee link.
Hapo kona mbaya base kulikua na brotherhood na sense of belonging, ata kaa hauna any ukifika hapo lazima ungevuta all the ngwai you wished as ilikua yatembea clockwise in the circle as where we used to sit, hakuna ata siku moja niliona ikitembea anticlockwise so nomatter where you sat lazima ingekufikia, sometimes we even had three or four joints doing rounds in the circle, pale moshi ilikua haiishi. Soon enough the junkies made it their permanent residence lakini sisi wengine ambaotulikua tunajitegemea tulikua twafika hapo kuvuta tu alafu mtu anaishia zake.
Macho tulikua tunasafishia githurai stage na ungepata maboys kaa 15 tumezubaa tu hapo waiting for girls tuombe slices and its while tukiwa stage tukaanza kusaidia makangas kujaza mathree, ukimsaidia akijaza haraka unapewa 5 bob, haiya tukaona hii inaweskua source of income and soon the privilege ya kupewa kobole became a right, gari yote ya abiria ikisimama githu ikakua lazima itoe pesa, gari za githurai KU na ruiru hazikua na shida, the problem was the fellows from upcountry, to deal with them we called out all the boys from the base waje tusaidiane, we identified the notorious vehicles and we would approach them with daggers drawn as soon as they stopped in our tuff. Within a short time Githurai was locked, gari zote ata kina Gathanga success na Oveland wakatii na wakaanza kutupatia pesa na tukachukulia hio kazi viserious.
we divided ourselves into two groups, Fisi wakubwa na fisi wadogo, Fisi wakubwa would be up by 4:30 am ili tupate pesa ya ngware, the shift would change at 10 am and the fisi wadogo would take over till 5pm when the fisi kubwa would come back kumalizia siku. The structure was simple but effective, we had one accountant, he is the one who kept all the money, wale wakujaza gari wakiokota walikua wanampatia after kuambia Clerk the vehicle number and amount, then we had the inspectors, kazi yao ilikua nikuconfirm ile pesa imepeawa ndio imeandikwa kwenye kitabu, lastly we had the enforcers ama jeshi, hawa walikua Wanaka kando keeping an eye on things, any slight problem and a poor conductor or makanga would find himself on the tarmac bleeding. At the end of every shift the money collected was shared out equally. (Guess rank ya Meria ilikua gani)
We had the money and we could follow Pupa Leftie all around Nairobi to wherever kinglions were holding their reagae disco, be it Brilliant, KICC or City hall. Huku tulipigana epic battles na other passies like Dallas Machinery and Mathare youth, woe unto you if in the dance hall you strayed to another gangs corner, mangumi za kahaso ndizo ulikua wapata and sometimes a knife stab is what you got, I remember we lost one guy at Brilliant. @4makind was there. Asubuhi tukienda home the CBD was our battle zone, on rare occasions the eastland gangs would come together and decide to escort the kibera and kawangware youth upto Kenyatta hospital, na siku yetu ikifika tulikua twafukuzwa mpaka pangani, those were the days. You had to be physically fit.
Things started going downhill when the junkies at the kona mbaya base started robbing from passers by, mtoi akienda dukani ananyanganywa pesa, siku moja nikiwa hapo kuna cameraman alipita akaambiwa atupige picha tatu, after taking his pics akaambiwa nayeye achukue pose apigwe picha pia, he handed over his camera na hio story ikaisha ivo, wakati aliitisha camera alipigwa maslap na masweep alafu akaonyeshwa okapi (dagger as we used to call it) the poor fellow ran for dear life. Ata kuna sikuingine my cousin who had come to visit from Murarandia aliyanganywa my brand new cheki maneno while taking a ride near kona mbaya, when he got home with a black eye nilijua tu where to find my bike, kufika base jamaa wananiambia vile wako na cargo safi waniuzie, kuwashow niyangu na huyo walikua wamechapa nicousin brother niliambiwa pole na stori ikaisha. Later the guys graduated to Ngeta hapo kwa roundabout while others had guns but by saa hii nilikua nishatoka hicho kikundi. most of them are six foot under.
Back to signature uniform na vile iliniokoa. Siku moja in 94 after kumaliza shift ya 10 na kupitia kwa wamaprege for lunch (wamaprege was the local kempinski, this joint had very tasty matumbos hence the name wamaprege as matumbo is mapregnant in English, ama namna gani gashui?)nilichukua cheki maneno nikaenda deep inside githurai kwa shamba ya Jomo pahali kuna dam, its way past present st lucie kiriri university, huku ndipo kulikua brewery ya cham, ukifika jiko ya cham mambo hua kaa vile Burma kuko, kila mtu anakuonjesha produce yake, niliekewa cham moto kwa kasuku ikabidi niitumbukize kwa dam ili ipoe, keep in mind that hii dam ilikua na hippo population. Nilikunywa cham mpaka nikasahau eti kuna shift ya 5pm around kindu 7 ndio nilianza safari ya kwenda home, usisahau nilikua na bike. Phombe, baiskeli na giza ni a very wrong combination as nilikua napanda bike nikianza kupeddle naanguka. Ukiwa mlevi huwes ride bike, if you aint stable on your own two legs how can you be stable on two wheels?
Sasa nikaamua nisukume bike mpaka nitokee kwa mainroad which took like forever lakini hatimaye nikatokea Z corner, nikapanda juu ya bike and this time I managed to stay for top for a few revolutions of the peddles and as I started to gain speed nilianguka kaa gunia nikaona all the stars in the cosmos and promptly passed out.
When I came to nilikua nimelala on a very dirty mattress I a room with unplastered walls and no roof na ilikua ni mchana, I looked around saw my bike and the memory gates opened but nilikua nakumbuka tu nikiwa kwa dam nikipoesha cham, nikajaribu kukumbuka vile nilifika huko nilipokua lakini wapi, the harder I tried, the further it went, alafu nikaskia njaa, hey, acha tu, I felt like I could eat a mountain lakini kuangalia mifuko sikua na any, I remembered nilikua nimetoka shift ya asubuhi and I had some money. I struggled to get up juu I was very weak na after kutoka inje ndio nilirealise niko kona mbaya base, majamaa waliniona wakapasua na kicheko hadi wakaanguka, one of them helped me to sit down on a bench ili nipewe stori kaa nimeketi and another one offered a joint which I declined.
I was told that at around midnight the previous night four Corinthian of the female gender had come to kona mbaya base and informed the ones who were present that one of them was lying dead deep inside githurai at Z corner, the women had been coming from church when they had chanced upon the body and due to the outfit they could tell that this was a guy from kona mbaya. The boys thanked them and off they went to see the dead guy.
Kufika hapo walipata ni Meria na kumguza walipata akiwa mbaridi and there was no heartbeat na pia hao wakasema myamaa amekata roho. Githurai police station ilikua bado kujengwa na so it was either kasarani or ruiru police stations na mkumbuke hakukua simu siku hizo, so majamaa wakaamua kunibeba wanitoe hadi thika rd ili watafute gari ya kunipeleka city mortuary, nikaambiwa that 3 of them walinibeba like the way you carry a log on your shoulders na mwingine akasukuma baiskeli, kwa bahati mzuri au mbaya walipofika railway crossing mmoja wao aliteguka na wote + mimi wakaanguka, they said it was at that point that I stood up unzipped my trousers, urinated and then blacked out again.
Sasa after kujua Meria hajadeadi walinipiga telo wakakwachu pesa zote nilizokua nazo wakaingia miruri bar kukunywa, baadaye after pesa kuisha ndipo walinibeba hadi kwa hio room hapo base. They told me that I was lucky waliniangusha juu I would have woken up in the mortuary. Ile pesa walikua wamebakisha nikatumana maziwa na mkate ili nipige ile njaa ilikua inaniua. Hapo na hapo nikamalizana na changaa, sijawai kunywa tena.
After kurecover niliweza kuingia shift ya jioni lakini pesa ya morning sikugawiwa juu I was not there. Hio kazi hapo stage iliendelea vizuri until one day we woke up kama kawa na tukapata our stage, our bus stop, our milk cow had been taken over by a new force in town known as mungiki. (storo ya siku ingine)
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how do hoodlums in your mtaa look like?
(remember that hekaya?)