Thugs in blue!!!

Most of my blogs are light and energetic about Kenya and our programs here. But this one boarders on rage and touches on a much deeper problem within the country that foreigners and Kenyans deal with on a a daily basis. WELCOME TO KENYA!!!

On Saturday night around 10pm, I was going to meet friends in Nairobi. On my way I stopped at a store to pick up a few things. Coming out of the store was a round about, maybe 50 feet or so. Standing in front of my path was a police officer. Normally, I don't stop for police at night here. There are too many cases of officers not being what they seem and either being totally corrupt or someone pretending to be a cop. Bad news!!! But he was standing in the middle of the road and told me to pull over. Another thing in Kenya is very few cops have cars. They simply stand on the side of the road or at check points and flag people down. So I stopped and he came the window asking for my driver license. No problem, I produced it and he told me he'd stopped me for no seat belt. Now yes he was completely accurate. It's one of my pet peeves to always wear one. I just had not put it on yet and well......ok he got me no problem.

But this is where it gets VERY tricky. They don't write tickets here. They say they are going to arrest you. they want you to take them to the police station to deal with the ticket. In Kenya a no seat belt is a MINOR offense of maybe $4-5 penalty. I now know after this situation that it's illegal for police to get in your car. But he did it anyways. And so did another cop in the back seat. He told me to drive and almost immediately was asking how we were going to deal with this. Kept telling me to pull over on our way and "work it out" . I said no let's drive to the police station and they told me, let's just deal with it, only a SMALL thing. Which means, pay me money and you can get off. I know from friends that this generally costs about 1000 ksh so about $13 and it's all over, no police station. So I pulled out my wallet when stopped and produced 1000 shillings. But here's where it gets even more sticky. I had just gone to the ATM and had 5000 shilling $65 in my wallet of which he immediately saw. The police in the back told me now I was being booked for corruption and bribery since I gave them 1000 shillings even though they had brided me for it. Big fine he said. Basically, now the threats came because they wanted all the money. This went on for awhile and finally after a 1000 shilling note after another I was left with no money in my pocket. They had gutted me of everything. There was even a point when they said I had more after giving them 5000 and I had to have an ATM card. Even telling them I worked to help Kenyans they simply did not care.

They got out of the car and the one police actually asked me if we sponsored any people outside Maai Mahiu and if CTC could help his family. So they wanted all my money, which they got, and now wanted CTC assistance. Are you F... kidding me? I was so nice during this process but that was the instance where I nearly punched the guy in the face. I simply said no and kindly drove on.

purposely avoid the government officials in town because if you let them in the ask for money. They openly ask, Oh so you are developing a community center to help my So what do you do in that situation? See this is not a rare instance in Kenya. This happens ALL the time. I was just unlucky this time. Kenyans have to deal with corrupt cops daily. They have to deal with them even going as far as raping their wives, beating husbands and well you get the picture. And yes that happens, no need to keep blinders on....it's tough here. Further, this is also how the entire government acts. CTC in Maai Mahiu purposely avoids the government officials. They will ask ...So you are building a community center to help my constituents.... what is in it for me? There is no shame to corruption here. They will ask and even put it in writing. It's sad. I felt violated for sure and had a hard time not opening my rage on someone. But then I had to think. I'm an outsider and these acts of misuse and abuse of power are what's ruining this country. My run in with the police was a minor situation, though it felt absolutely horrible. I feel for Kenyans who are abused daily and live for another day. Truly admirable!!!!!!