At the age of 10, Elias Hiti Mwaganu dropped out of school in Standard Two “due to an urge to be rebellious”.
Incensed by his action, his father gave him an ultimatum: he could continue living at home only if he went back to school. Mwaganu wanted nothing more to do with school so he left home. “I went to Thika Town, where I became an urchin. I got a job in a backstreet eatery, earning Sh5 a month,” he says.
One day a customer with a bicycle ordered chapati and beans, which cost Sh25. “He gave me Sh500 to settle his bill. I told him we didn’t have any loose money and suggested that he lend me his bicycle to go and get change from a nearby beer depot,” Mwaganu recalls.
He disappeared with the cash and the bicycle and moved to Free Area just outside Nakuru Town.
“I resumed my street life and within a month, I was in Kisii Town. I bumped into an aunt who took me in. She called home and was told about my rebellious ways, including how I had stolen from my employer and a customer. She called the police…” he says.
But luck was on his side. There was no police transport to take him to Thika where he had committed the crime, so after two weeks in custody, he was released.
His mother went for him in Kisii, but all efforts to get him back to school failed.
Then, in December 1995, Mwaganu met a teenager from his Gitiri Village in Murang’a County who had come visiting. .
“He told me that real men don’t live in the village, that he could take me to Nairobi and introduce me to employers. He told me real men make money, have many wives, drink alcohol and eat lots of roasted meat. I was immediately interested,” he recalls.
CLOSE SHAVE
That is how, at the age of 13, he found himself living in Umoja Estate in Nairobi, with five gangsters.
“My village mate showed me the ropes. He taught me how to use small arms. My first training was how to fire a berretta pistol,” he says. Thereafter, he would accompany his colleagues on missions.
“My total worth at that time was about Sh200,000. I was living large. That was life, only fools were in school…,” he says.
In March 1996, their ringleader told them that the wife of a man who would be taking Sh9 million to the bank wanted that cash snatched; she was ready to pay them Sh5 million. They were elated and prepared for the assignment.
“Using a stolen pick-up, we blocked his car in Donholm. I had a pistol, while another colleague armed with an AK47 covered us. We took the cash but I didn’t get even a cent. Two of our colleagues ran away with it,” he recalls.
In 1997, he joined another gang. This time they got information from a bank that a man who was taking his son to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) had Sh3 million in cash.
“But the man was smart. He had police escort and when we swung into action at the JKUAT gates, the plainclothes officers opened. We were lucky to escape but a male student caught in the crossfire died instantly,” he recalls.
In 2001, when he was 19 years old, Mwaganu had his own gang of six. “I had six firearms for our use, which I also leased to other gangs. Once, I got wind of a harambee in aid of a kidney patient in Dandora. Sh1.5 million had been raised. That was good money so we decided to go for it,” he says.
“We arrived and immediately swung into action. But in our haste, we had not imagined that there might be armed security on guard. I was ordering everyone in the hall to lie down as I fired a warning shot in the air when all hell broke loose. Two bullets whizzed close past my head. Another grazed my thigh. How I escaped is not important; the important thing is that I was the only one who survived,” he says.
He started living on the run because the police were hunting him down. “I don’t know how they traced my village, but my parents and siblings lived in constant fear of police raids,” he says.
SOFT CRIMES
“I engaged them in a gunfight as I fled. Interestingly, they did not arrest my wife. I went into hiding in Limuru in Kiambu County,” he says.
Thereafter, he got into “soft” crimes such as carjacking and walking into businesses premises, demanding cash and walking out.
“By 2013, the world of crime had become dangerously narrow. The police had become smart, and technological innovation had made communicating by phone foolhardy,” he offers.
So, broke and desperate, he kidnapped a two-year-old boy in Limuru with the help of a female accomplice. They demanded a Sh70,000 ransom, which they got and released the boy after three days.
He then started carjacking on the Gatanga, Thika, Kandara and Murang’a routes.
By 2015, things were bad. “It was hard to make even make Sh20,000 in a month. Besides, I was aware that getting shot by the police was just seconds away … I was conscious that I had a family. I was not ready to die,” he says.
So, was he ever arrested?
Oh yes, several times.
“But what is an arrest when you have ready cash? There is a saying in the criminal world that a police officer who can refuse to set you free in exchange for cash is beyond help? Yes, criminals in Kenya more often than not buy their freedom. But sometimes the police are dead serious and will kill you,” he says.
So in May 2015, he went back to his village a born-again Christian with one mission: to make peace with his parents, neighbours and the government.
“I went to a neighbour, Mzee Thomas Ngarachu, and told him my story. He was very helpful. I also contacted some media houses to cover my public repentance while the government organised a baraza at my rural shopping centre, where I denounced crime,” he says.
After his mother died, his father, Mwaganu wa Kiraing’wa remarried. He and his wife, Jane Wanjiru, say they have forgiven him and have even given him a piece of land so that he can rebuild his life.
The village organised a harambee and bought him a motorcycle, which he uses as a taxi to earn a living.
“From the millions I was making in crime, today I make about Sh500 a day. The millions only benefited corrupt police officers, prostitutes, bar owners and nyama choma den owners. I came out the unpaid worker. But the Sh500 I make gives me satisfaction because I can enjoy peace with my family,” he says.
His message to youngsters is: “Crime does not pay, I am living testimony to 22 years of a wasted life.”
Sounds like fiction?
Murang’a County Police Commander Ms Naomi Ichami says she learnt about Mwaganu’s criminal exploits when he made a public confession at a public security Baraza.
“We investigated his case confirmed that he was telling the truth. We made him commit to us that he was, indeed, reformed. But he remains on our watch list to make sure he walks the talk,” she says.
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