MP’s night out with carjackers

Khwisero MP Evans Akula narrates to reporters how he was carjacked by armed gangsters on Tuesday. Photo/ PETERSON GITHAIGA (NAIROBI)

Khwisero’s Evans Akula was forced to drive a stolen car with its owner locked in the boot. He was also beaten up and watched as gangsters who seized him withdrew money from his account at an ATM machine.

On Wednesday, he narrated the two-hour ordeal with the gangsters, who he described as “young boys with guns.” The MP had left his home in Nairobi’s Westlands area at 10.30pm on Tuesday night to drop his constituency office manager and a few other visitors at the shopping centre.

He was back minutes later and was waiting in his vehicle — a Mercedes C200 Kompressor — for the gate to be opened outside his Rhapta Road home. But before the watchman could open it, four men emerged from a car behind him, holding their guns in the air. “One of the gangsters rushed for the watchman and asked him if there was an alarm system,” Mr Akula said.

“They slapped me across the face and rained blows on my ribs before bundling me into the backseat of my car,” he said. They took his phone, ATM card and wallet and took control of his vehicle. In the back seat, he was sandwiched between two of the gang’s members. The MP was also ordered to keep his head low as they took off.

When the Nation caught up with him on Wednesday at Parliament Buildings, he looked dazed by his new found freedom, but then he seemed to have come to terms with the issues affecting the country’s youth. “I am happy to be alive. God is great,” the MP said.

During the ride, Mr Akula was forced to give out the PIN number of his ATM card. But when he told the gangsters that he had already exceeded the Sh50,000 limit, they drove within the city, buying time. At midnight, they went to an ATM and withdrew the money. “I don’t know how much they took… I am yet to confirm with the bank,” he said.

Kilimani police commander Francio Nyamatari said they were yet to arrest the gangsters. Police also recovered the MP’s car, which had been abandoned on a secluded road at Kamae, Kiamumbi, in Nairobi's outskirts. As the carjackers rode with the MP, they discovered his identity when they saw his business cards. One of them even offered him a cigarette.

At one point, they changed vehicles. Mr Akula says that he heard his attackers ask: “When will you people give us the new constitution or the jobs that you have promised?” “Mheshimiwa mkilete kazi, hatutafanya hii maneno, hata sisi hatupendi, ni njaa inatusumbua (Honourable, give us jobs and we shall stop this, we don’t like it, but we are hungry),” the carjackers told the MP.

After two-hours, they told the MP to take their car and drive away. He obliged, not knowing that the owner of the vehicle, who had been carjacked earlier, was locked up in the boot. The shaken lawmaker had been abandoned at Upper Hill.

“I wanted to drive to a police station, but since I didn’t have a phone or identification, I rushed home to tell my family that I was okay. Luckily, I found police at my home,” Mr Akula said. While he spoke to the police at his compound, the owner of the white car was stuck at the boot of the car. The man had been carjacked at Ngara area four hours earlier. It was about 2am.

Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi is said to have been in touch with the MP’s wife and the police to trace his whereabouts. “Any lessons Mheshimiwa?” “If we don’t give these people jobs, things can get out of hand. They could start robbing us in daylight,” he said.