Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has finally broken his silence after a video of residents roughing up Nairobi City Council officers popularly known as kanjos.
In a statement, Sakaja noted that his administration had initiated steps to apprehend residents who were recorded in the viral video beating up Kanjos at an unspecified estate in the city.
His response followed a series of complaints raised by some residents led by Kileleshwa Robert Alai who described the incident as an assault on the kanjo.
Alai called on the Nairobi City boss to expedite the probe and help in bringing the perpetrators to book.
"We shouldn’t allow this assault of our enforcement teams. Anyone doing this and their enablers and cheer gangs should never enjoy peace. Our enforcement teams ensure that order is enforced in the city. I ask that those who did this be arrested and charged," Alai wrote.
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"They will," Sakaja responded to Alai's statement confirming Nairobi County's next action.
In the video, the officers had confiscated a few items including plywood seemingly from hardware in the area. This resulted in a confrontation between the officers and the residents.
One of the locals, dragged the materials from the officers' pick up attracting the attention of other residents and passers-by. Another resident was depicted holding a hammer and arguing with one of the kanjos before proceeding to slap him.
As these happened, some residents were recorded cheering on risking the lives of the city officials.
It was not immediately established what led to the altercation but some residents were heard lamenting over how the city officials were carrying out their operations.
The incident comes just days after he defended the county inspectorate from accusations of harassing a lorry driver in the city. Sakaja blamed an Assistant Chief while promising to get to the bottom of the matter.
"This gentleman was not cuffed by City inspectorate officers but by the assistant chief. We have escalated the issue to County Commissioner David Wanyonyi to get to the bottom of it as Chiefs fall in his structure. That was wrong and inhumane," the governor said.
