
BY MAINA MIHIATO
Witeithie is a growing middle-income residential area, which is just about a distance of one kilometer from Thika Town in Kiambu County.
Until 2018, it was regarded as a semi-slum. That was until residential buildings started coming up. With modern buildings coming up so quickly and in a short span of time, this changed the area’s unattractive panorama. The once sleepy and filthy-looking sub-slum began to show some signs of life.
Among the new residents who gave Witethie its new buzzling status are college and university students, who became tenants to the newly-built residential buildings. Some of these institutions are Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Zetech University, NIBS Technical College, and Gretsa University among others. According to some students who spoke to ‘Eastleigh Voice’ newspaper, one of the reasons why most students opt to rent houses in the area is their affordability. “In most areas which are near Thika, Kimbo, or Ruiru towns, house rents are usually very high in a way that most students cannot afford. This is because most rely on their parents or guardians for their daily upkeep,” says Martin Otieno, who is a second-year student at Zetech University.
Most students say that they opt to rent houses in this area—despite the unending challenge of insecurity—to enable them to survive and afford basic things like food. Given that this is an urban area where cases of insecurity would mostly be attacks from normal criminals—its problem has been unique—the attacks are from lone marauding hyenas. “Several students have been attacked by hyenas, although fortunately, they have all managed to escape unhurt,” says Beatrice Nyawira, a student at JKUAT residing in Witeithie.
The narratives from the students are just the tip of the iceberg on the state of insecurity facing many students in most Kenyan universities. Although the area is quite a distance from Juja, where the hyenas have been attacking and even killing the residents—students say that they are not immune to those attacks. When the cases of hyena attacks increased earlier last month, where a 10-year-old boy was mauled to death at Gwa Kigwi village in Juja, the Zetech University leadership threatened to take the law into its hands. In a stakeholder meeting held at the institution earlier this month, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Njenga Munene, called on the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to hasten the process of translocating the animals, as most of its students live in Witeithie, where they have been creating havoc. “Most of our students leave their lectures quite late. This therefore jeopardizes their lives. We will take the law into our own hands by killing those animals if the KWS will not hasten the translocation process,” said Prof Njenga.
Some of the universities where increased cases of insecurities have been reported recently are Multimedia University, JKUAT, Moi, and the University of Nairobi,, among others. On February 6th, Multimedia University students blocked the busy Magadi Road, after one of them was attacked and badly injured by a hyena. The 21-year-old Kelvin Mwenda, a second-year student, was attacked the previous day at night at around 8 pm. The institution is located opposite the Nairobi National Park. Kenya University Student Organisation (KUSO) President, Jesse Saruni, said the student lost one of his thumbs during the attack. “He was coming from school heading to his place in Rongai at around 8 pm when the incident happened. The hyena also bit one side of his face,” said Mr Saruni. “His eyes are covered. We are not sure if his other eye is okay because he is covered on one side of the face,” Saruni said. The student leader urged KWS to take action for the safety of the students. “You cannot be sleeping on your job while our comrades are being mauled by hyenas left right and center,” the KUSO President said. “If you are unable to perform your duties, we will form a task force to talk to the hyenas as you advised. We will talk to them in a language they will understand.”
A police report from Olekasasi showed the student was attacked along Maasai Lodge road. On June 9, 2021, students drawn from various universities in the country took to the streets to peacefully demonstrate over the surging cases of rape and brutal murder of university students. Led by Kenya University Female Students Leaders Association (KUFSLA) leaders, the students marched from Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, Nairobi, chanting slogans meant to rebuke Sexual Gender-Based Violence. Speaking during the demonstration, the then Multimedia University (MMU) of Kenya Student Association President, Jenifer Mbogo, explained that the protest was a result of insecurity and delayed justice for the families of the victims.
On November 19th, 2021, JKUAT students demonstrated over what they termed as security concerns in the area. The main campus students engaged Juja Police Station officers in running battles accusing them of not doing enough to protect them. They further accused area bodaboda operators of colluding with criminals to rob unsuspecting students. According to one of the students, cases of their colleagues being accosted by thugs and robbed of their belongings at knife-point had risen within the past couple of weeks. The learner stated that some of the reported incidents occurred as early as 6pm in the evening. At the time of compiling this story, most students interviewed by the ‘Eastleigh Voice’ said that the situation hasn’t changed. “The students are forced to arm themselves or walk in groups because no help has been coming forth from the administration,” said one of the students.
On February 22nd, 2015, students at the Moi University main campus in Eldoret, demonstrated after a third-year female student was found raped and killed near one of the institution’s hostels. The deceased was a third-year student in the School of Arts and Social Sciences. Police lobbed teargas at the students in a bid to contain the situation after the protest turned chaotic and students blocked police from taking the body to a morgue, demanding an address from the school administration. The hallmark of the state of insecurity on campuses was on April 2, 2015, when armed gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, killing 148 people and injuring at least 79. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage. The siege ended the same day when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.
As these incidents continue to surge, security experts warn that this should be a wake-up call to university and college administrations to put mechanisms to ensure that their students are safe, especially in areas where they reside. Security expert George Musamali says that institutions should adopt a model that was taken by Garissa University after the 2015 attack, where it established a police station inside the school. He says that since the setting up of that internal camp, no major security lapse incident has been reported. “Beyond employing the normal security guards, institutions of higher learning should establish a proper working relationship with the National Police Service (NPS) to maximize the security of their students in and out of the school. This will ensure that any case (s) of insecurity is adequately resolved. This is the best panacea to some of the cases of security lapse we have been witnessing at those institutions,” he says.