[kictanet] Daylight Robbery along Southern Bypass - Nairobi

Thu Nov 24 18:16:25 EAT 2011

I believe if we mount security cameras on the High voltage masts, only
someone on a suicide mission could dare clamber

up to steal them. This should be a PPP initiative/venture where we can rope
in the GSM providers, Telco's, KPLC, the City 

council, Road Ministry, etc and the local ICT community as evidenced in an
earlier post. This could form part of

the community policing. We can deal with the monitoring, and what should
done about it once we get started.

Such a measure can also act as a deterrence, and will ultimately scale down
the number of incidences that take place.

Simply classifying & zoning off areas as crime-infested, and therefore
"no-go" zones, does not in any way deal with the 

issue head on but rather skirt around it. Perhaps if then this be the case,
we should actually have some huge bill-board 

just before one joins such street, drive-way, avenue, by-pass, highway etc
warning of the dangers that lie ahead.

The ICT community has and can stand out again to be counted to bring ICT
based solutions to bear, to resolve most of

such issues that we face day to day. Again, necessity becomes a mother of
all invention. 

I suppose we can do something about this, and right away. Perhaps our PS can
help get us started on this.?

Harry

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Chelimo Ken
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2011 4:13 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: skunkworks at lists.my.co.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Daylight Robbery along Southern Bypass - Nairobi

Philip and Others,

I got a space on the letters to the editor in the Star newspaper for
tomorrow. I will run the abridged and edited letter to the editor tomorrow
so that motorists, police and the public are aware about the danger of
driving through this Southern Bypass. See it tomorrow on page 21.

Ken Chelimo

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 4:04 PM, Philip Adar <philip.adar at gmail.com> wrote:

The cameras will help catch the keep-off the robbers! Assuming they will not
steal the cameras as well...

Maybe it is time to think about the 'cloud' seriously. Data lost through the
stolen laptops (from the 7 cars robbed yesterday) might take months to be
fully re-constructed. It seems many take data redundancy for granted. I am
learning the hard way...   

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 3:57 PM, rsohan at gmail.com <rsohan at gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:42 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt
<andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:

Nairobi isn't a very safe place in most areas. 

Also, cameras will only help both security and road safety if anyone
actually does anything with the information recorded. 

[x-post to skunkworks]

Maybe there's a case to be made for a community driven/voluntary CCTV
network?

I'd certainly chip in with technical contributions and some money for
resources.

On 24 November 2011 13:40, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:

Pole for what happened, and thankfully you are well.

I believe some of the highway cameras will in due time become helpful in
monitoring

and capturing  the goings on along some of these stretches. Especially those
mounted

on high voltage KPLC masts alongside the roads will do the job.

I propose as speed cameras are discussed, a security angle of it should as
well be 

Introduced/considered, to keep our populace safe. Who is behind this
project..?

In fact we should start by mounting GSM security cameras in places
considered crime 

prone.

Harry

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bharry>
=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Philip Adar
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2011 11:24 AM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Daylight Robbery along Southern Bypass - Nairobi

Who knows when they will ever come calling?

It is on Wednesday 23rd November 2011, I left office (Ngong Road) with
another appointment at 6pm in Nairobi West. To make it in time, I decide
that Ngong road is not fast enough and clearly remembers the usability of an
alternative "short-cut" route; the Southern Bypass. After all, it is still
daytime. 

As I take my turn into the Southern Bypass, driving towards Langata,
everything seems okay. Several on coming cars are seen. Actually the road is
busy, many vehicles but nevertheless that is good for security and some
great distances are covered pretty fast.

One little hill done, then valley, then the next hill is approach, actually
now mid way along this route. Suddenly, some vehicle is spotted parked on
the right side of the road, doors wide open. I slow down a bit, avoiding to
hit onto the doors of the other vehicle. Speed is reduced from an average of
100Km/h to 30 or 40Km/h, and the car is now positioned for the eventual
overtaking. 

Suddenly a youthful Kenyan is spotted doing his nation building duties. He
is standing in the middle of the road, about 30 meters away; with a gun in
hand; pointing towards the on-coming car. I tries a U-turn on this "loose
earth" road, impossible on this narrow road with deep trenches on both sides
of the road . 2 gun shots in quick succession are fired towards me; and by
now I realizes that the road is narrow and the u-turn cannot work at all. 

Cornered, un-armed and frightened, I surrenders and obeys. I jumps out of
the car and my belly is welcomed flat on the dusty murram road. My feet
landing directly on the muddy waterway on the side of the road. Not
comfortable, but in situations like this; instincts quickly gathers that you
do not complain! My pockets are frisked; the car is run-sacked; everything
is taken away. out of curiosity I peep from under the car over the other
sides and immediately notices a couple of other private cars (about 5 to 7
in total); occupants (both men women of stature); all sharing in my
predicament on the surface of the murram road. I consoles myself that after
all, it will be many murders, not just one. Something like this may
definitely attract the governments attention to these matters of security.  

In a couple of minutes, the youth group (approximately 5 in total); invites
everybody back to their cars as they dash into the nearby Ngong forest. In
fact they shout thank you's to us for having chosen to travel this short-cut
road without traffic jams and even encourages us to continue using it in the
future. We are reminded that with no resistance, things can never get
bloody...

Indeed, very nice words for me by now...

I collects himself from the ground, dusts off a little bit, but most of the
mud is too stubborn. Luckily, the car engine is still running. About 500
meters from the scene, I notices several vehicles; private cars and public
vans (buses and matatu's) parked on the road waiting for the ordeal
happening just ahead to complete. Of course it is clear that they watched
the whole episode. Some by-standers (about 10 to 15) as well are spotted by
the road side, watching the episode. 

As I continue down the road about 2Km from the robbery scene, I spots two
cops on patrol. I slow down and pulls over to the attention of the two cops
armed to the teeth, each with an AK-47. I narrates the ordeal briefly and
the cops asks for a quick ride to reach the scene and follow the
gun-trotting youths. After all, I have lost so much; I agree to drive the
cops. The car is now a police response vehicle. By now the cops are asking
too many questions: How many were they?, did they have guns?, I heard some
gun shots, was it there!, roughly how many people/cars were there? How much
money did they take from you??? etc. I give rough estimates as we speed
towards the scene, now beaming with confidence. After all, I am protected
with two AK-47's (most probably loaded). The cops promises to get something
back, if not everything, but at least the documents which they are sure will
not be useful for these youthful Kenyans doing their part in the
nation-building business. 

After some distance, I pull over and shows the two cops the presumed
location of the incident, but they refuses to accept this location and
points to some other location some 500 meters ahead. I drives further ahead
and actually realizes that I was confused. The cops who were about 2-3 KM
away from the scene of the incident knows better...!!! 

The cops disembark, heads towards the forest and urges him to proceed and
report the incident at Karen police station.    

The morale of the true story: The Southern Bypass in NOT safe anytime, day
or night; with or without the police. Sambaza to your contacts. It is not an
interesting thing to experience. 

Can media highlight such cases publicly on prime time news so that all
Nairobians get to know these unsafe places? If someone could have died, yes;
it could have been on news! We can help others by warning tirelessly,
without surrender...

-- 
Regards

Philip Adar

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