Outrage over Ministers picking girls
By NATION Team
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A police reservist involved in a swoop on prostitutes which netted a Cabinet minister, an assistant minister and a Narc MP was later sacked for allegedly tipping off some of the girls.
He warned them to stay away from Nairobi's notorious red light area, Koinange Street, while the raid took place, it was revealed yesterday.
The swoop took place on December 5 and the reservist was dismissed just a few days later.
He was ordered to return his pistol and other items issued by the police.
His sudden sacking was revealed as Catholic bishop John Njue demanded that the three MPs be taken to court, like the twilight girls who were charged almost immediately, to avoid double standards in applying the law; a call echoed by an assistant minister Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri.
And Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki demanded that the ministers caught in the swoop be sacked outright.
They spoke out as praise came from all quarters for the Sunday Nation, which broke news of the scandal in an exclusive report.
It revealed that the ministers and the MP were among a number of prominent people, including well known businessmen, seized during the routine swoop. They were caught with half-naked girls already in their cars.
The three all belonging to Narc, and from Rift Valley Province, the Coast and Nyanza � were first watched and then photographed and video-taped before police moved in.
Police photographed and fingerprinted each of the 102 girls they arrested to be preserved as evidence in case anyone later claims they were framed.
The tape clearly shows one of the MPs being arrested by a team of police reservists. They are seen standing on the pavement as the MP's car pull up.
A group of skimpily-dressed girls rush to the vehicle without knowing they are being filmed and the MP then chooses one and ushers her into his car.
The officers then pounce on the car and demand that the driver identifies himself, which he stubbornly refuses to do.
The reservists then pulled out their pistols and ordered him to drive to Central police station where he finally identified himself as he was about to be thrown into a cell.
At that point a senior police officer intervened and had the MP released.
The other two MPs and the businessmen seized in the crackdown were freed in the streets after senior police officers were called to the scene.
The 102 prostitutes were not so lucky. They were whisked away to Central police station and locked up for four days.
One hundred of them were taken to court on December 9 and fined between Sh400 and Sh2,000 each.
The politicians were seen beckoning the girls to their cars then helping them inside, before the police descended.
Almost as shocking as the men's determination to prey on the girls was the fact that out of 102 prostitutes netted in the swoop, 58 were found to be students from the University of Nairobi and the city's diploma colleges.
Eleven were from the university, 14 from Utalii College, 12 from the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, seven from Kenya Medical Training College, three from Strathmore College and 11 from other city colleges.
Prominent among those to praise the Sunday Nation scoop yesterday was Information minister Raphael Tuju described the report as a ''wonderful expose" , adding, "It is a great story if you got it right."
Mr Tuju asked the Nation to name the ministers and the MP concerned to avoid speculation, as did assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri. He asked the politicians implicated to resign once proof is provided.
"We as MPs swore to serve the Government with integrity and therefore this Government should not suffer because of irresponsible persons who are betraying the same oath of office by engaging in prostitution," Mr Kiunjuri said.
The assistant Energy minister also urged the police commissioner to also name the three politicians and to take them to court as he had done with the prostitutes.
"If he fails to charge these people, he will have contravened the law and we demand that he resigns," he said.
Catholic Bishop John Njue agreed. He also demanded that MPs should be charged along with the twilight girls to avoid a double application of the law.
"When you arrest two people breaking the law, it is not fair to charge one person and free the accomplice," he told the Nation at his official residence in Mathari Catholic mission, Nyeri.
He said it was not only a disgrace that the MPs should behave in that way but also an act of betrayal by people entrusted to give a sense of direction to young people, especially at the time of the HIV/Aids pandemic.
The Bishop said it was regrettable that leaders who have been in the forefront in the fight against HIV/Aids were involved in the same vice they preached against.
"Our youths cannot take them seriously when they give advice in public forums since they are not leading by example," he said.
The bishop added that because students suffered financial hardship it was no excuse for them to engage in prostitution which he said was both illegal and sinful.
Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki called for the sacking of ministers caught in a police swoop.
It was a total shame for ministers who were supposed to be role models in society to be caught in a red light district in degrading acts.
"They should be sacked outright and I hope they are not married because it would be unfair to their wives," Archbishop Ndingi said after presiding over a thanksgiving mass at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi.
He urged Kenyans to pray for the MPs to receive God's guidance.
"They are our sons and we cannot abandon them they need our help," he said.
Catholic priest Father John Nderitu said, in Nakuru: that MPs should be as role models. "How can they tell us that they are fighting HIV/Aids yet what they are doing is immoral, they are preaching water and drinking wine."
Dr Ernest Shivutse, a retired psychology lecturer from the University of Nairobi, confirmed student involvement in prostitution which he attributed to financial hardship after the Government withdrew "boom" in 1991.
He said it might not be easy for the female students to settle down in marriage after "becoming so commercialised in their operations".
"For MPs, they have become too rich after getting money so easily yet sex doesn't respect status," Dr Shivutse said.
Kenya Union of Journalists secretary general Ezekiel Mutua said the incident showed that MPs had enacted punitive laws against the media to enable them hide their wrongdoing.
He claimed the expose showed why politicians had pressured the Attorney General to crack down on the alternative media over sensational stories on leaders' questionable morality.
Mr Mutua praised the Sunday Nation for the scoop, and added: "Let's know the guys we elected to Parliament who can't keep their zips up yet preach about HIV/Aids."
Government colleagues Mr Njeru Githae (Justice) and Mr Stephen Tarus (Office of the President) said the MPs' kerb crawling was both a big shame and ridiculous.
Mr Githae said it was a step backwards in the Government's fight against HIV/Aids.
"This has much to do with the University loans, which are insufficient," he added. "I am urging the Government to increase loans to these girls to live well."
And Mr Tarus said: "It is embarrassing for people in high offices to engage in such activities. We are now gripped in anxiety. Let the Nation name them for everyone to carry his cross".
MPs and ministers in particular were supposed to conduct themselves with decorum, he said.
Mr Githae said he would organise a meeting for MPs next year so they could declare their HIV/Aids status.
Nairobi lawyer Okong�o O�Mogeni also criticised the police for applying double standards in holding the prostitutes in custody and letting the MPs scot-free.
Elsewhere prostitutes in Kisii Town defended their trade and accused the media of interfering with their market.
One woman who identified herself only as Jane said she had educated her three children up to college level on the proceeds of prostitution and asked why the media was "meddling."
"The newspapers are being unfair to us. We are not forcing anybody to have sex and pay for the service," she said.
Added Wanjiku, who has been in the trade for 16 years: "Those clients come to us and disclose to us that we are stress relievers because their wives keep on nagging them over minor things and end up denying them their conjugal rights.
But Bishop Peter Omesa of the Calvary Church said: "It is not only immoral . . . the MPs' wives must be feeling embarrassed and extremely betrayed."
Vice President Moody Awori and Health minister Charity Ngilu asked their Cabinet colleagues to lead by example.
Mr Awori, speaking at Nairobi's Consolata Shrine, said leaders were role models especially to the youth and were obliged to be sensitive of it always.
Mrs Ngilu challenged her implicated colleagues to resign saying they did not deserve to be called ''honourables.''
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Reporting by: David Mugonyi, Julius Bosire, Jeff Otieno, Paul Udoto, Beauttah Omanga, Mwangi Ndirangu, Mumbi Murage, Jillo Kadida and Bob Odalo
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