Author: Guy Bolding PW

Nairobi, February 7, 2026 – Vigilant immigration officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) have thwarted two separate attempts involving immigration fraud and human trafficking, leading to the arrest of four suspects, including a Sudanese national.

In the first incident, Iman Dib was apprehended while attempting to board a flight to Amsterdam after authorities discovered he was carrying a forged Bosnia and Herzegovina visa. Following investigations, his facilitator, Samira Dib, was also arrested and is set to face charges related to human trafficking. 7

In a parallel operation, Sudanese national Ahmed Eltayeb was detained en route to the United Kingdom when officers found him in possession of a forged UK residence permit. His alleged Kenyan facilitator, Abdullahi Ali, was arrested alongside him.

The arrests were made possible through heightened screening protocols and intelligence-led operations at the airport, which targeted transnational crime networks exploiting vulnerable individuals via document forgery and illegal migration routes.

Police described the syndicates as increasingly sophisticated, with facilitators profiting from arranging fraudulent travel.

A statement from the Kenya Police Service highlighted their ongoing efforts to bolster border security and dismantle trafficking networks at key points like JKIA.

This marks the second such operation this week, underscoring the authorities’ commitment to combating human trafficking.

The suspects have been taken to the JKIA police station and are expected to be arraigned in court as investigations continue.

Authorities urge the public to report any suspicious activities related to immigration fraud.

A Kenyan man who had been living and working in Qatar has been killed while fighting for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine, in yet another grim reminder of how foreign recruits are being sucked into a brutal war far from home.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence has identified the body of Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, a Kenyan citizen born in 1997, at a Russian position in the Donetsk region.

Mogesa is said to have travelled from Qatar to Russia, where he later signed a contract with the Russian armed forces and was assigned to an assault unit.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Mogesa underwent only brief training before being sent to the front line and killed during what was described as a “meat assault,” a term widely used to describe mass infantry attacks with little regard for casualties.

Even in death, Mogesa was reportedly abandoned. Russian forces did not evacuate his body from the battlefield, and his family has received neither compensation nor any official explanation from Russian authorities about how or where he died.

Disturbingly, Ukrainian intelligence says Mogesa was found carrying passports belonging to two other Kenyan citizens.

The documents are believed to belong to men recruited under similar circumstances and possibly earmarked for future deployment to the front lines.

The case adds to growing concerns about the recruitment of African nationals into the Russian military, often through opaque contracts, false promises of high pay or legal work, and minimal disclosure of the risks involved.

Kenyan nationals have previously surfaced among foreign fighters captured or killed in Ukraine, raising questions about how they are being recruited and whether they fully understand the consequences.

Ukrainian defence officials have warned foreign citizens against travelling to Russia or accepting work there, cautioning that migrants and recruits face a real risk of being forcibly deployed into combat units without adequate training or protection.

Mogesa’s death has reignited debate at home about the vulnerability of young Kenyans seeking opportunities abroad and the lack of safeguards once they fall into foreign military systems.

For his family, the tragedy is compounded by silence from Moscow and the reality that a son who left Africa in search of a better life in Qatar ended up dying alone in a frozen trench thousands of kilometres away.

The silence at Lang’ata Cemetery was deafening on Wednesday as nine small wooden coffins, one containing the body of a three-month-old infant, were lowered into mass graves in a haunting spectacle that has left Kenyans demanding answers about the mysterious deaths of 15 street children over the past month.

In scenes that would break the hardest of hearts, barefoot street families, the very people most Nairobians ignore at traffic lights, served as pallbearers.

They carried the small caskets of their own, tears streaming down their faces as they bid farewell to friends who had shared scraps of food and cardboard shelters with them on the capital’s harsh streets.

The burial, coordinated by city politician and philanthropist Agnes Kagure through her foundation, has exposed a disturbing pattern of deaths among Nairobi’s most vulnerable population, with the actual causes remaining largely unexplained despite bodies being collected from various city mortuaries.

Records from the Nairobi Funeral Home reveal a chilling timeline. Two children died suddenly on December 26, 2025, in Mlango Kubwa and Mathare. Another took their own life in Kariobangi on December 29. Two more succumbed to what officials vaguely termed “natural causes” on Christmas Day and Boxing Day from Pangani and Shauri Moyo.

But the circumstances surrounding these deaths have raised more questions than answers. The causes listed range from pneumonia and malnutrition to the euphemistic “mob justice,” a term that barely conceals the brutal violence street children face daily.

Among those mourning was Moses, who spoke quietly about his friend Enock. “I never imagined I would be burying him so soon,” Moses said, his voice breaking. “To survive on the streets as a street child, you can’t be sober. Enock was always intoxicated.”

The two had met at Mlango Kubwa along Juja Road, where fate had united them. Now, Moses was left with only memories of the good days they shared.

Then there was Mary Nyambura, who knew Munyiri as a good neighbor from their base around Pangani Girls’ High School. “We one day found him dead,” Nyambura said, her voice heavy with grief. “We think he was strangled to death.”

Peter Wanjiru, known as Chokora Msafi and coordinator of street families, painted a grim picture of life on Nairobi’s streets. “We’re not on the streets because we like it. It’s because of circumstances,” he said. “The cause of death for most is cold and hunger.”

The deaths reveal a darker truth about Kenya’s capital. While most of the deceased were between 18 and 35 years old, the presence of a three-month-old infant among them underscores the vulnerability of street families.

Agnes Kagure, who covered the burial costs and provided buses to transport the bodies and mourners, did not mince her words. “They die from malnutrition. Others are attacked by criminals at night. Others develop pneumonia because of sleeping on the streets,” she said.

Kagure challenged the county government to establish clear, humane systems for handling unclaimed bodies and supporting street families. “Hunger, illness, neglect and unexplained deaths are daily realities for street families,” she stated. “I call on the county leadership to wake up and activate coordinated healthcare, feeding programs, and rehabilitation initiatives.”

The businesswoman and gubernatorial hopeful criticized what she described as systemic failure by county leadership under Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration. “This situation persists because our county leadership has failed, and we have developed indifference as a society,” she said.

According to mortuary records, nine bodies were collected from the Nairobi Funeral Home, while others came from Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary. Six more bodies remained at the facilities awaiting postmortem examinations, adding to the mystery surrounding the deaths.

Pastor David Maina of PEFA Church, Lang’ata, who presided over the brief ceremony, offered the only comfort available. “From earth you came and earth you return,” he prayed as each small coffin was lowered six feet under.

The mass burial has sparked outrage on social media, with Kenyans questioning what led to the sudden spike in deaths among street children. Many have criticized the lack of official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

“These were lives that mattered. Children who deserved love, protection, and a future,” one social media user wrote. “May our leaders, institutions, and all of us as a society wake up and act, because silence and inaction are costing lives.”

The tragedy has also highlighted the broader crisis of street children in Kenya. According to the Consortium of Street Children, an international charity, Kenya has between 250,000 and 300,000 street children, with approximately 60,000 in Nairobi alone.

Research conducted in Eldoret between 2009 and 2016 on street-connected young people found that they carry a disproportionate burden of morbidities and engage in practices that heighten their risk of premature mortality. The study revealed that tuberculosis, injuries, and HIV/AIDS were among the leading causes of death.

For Nairobi’s street children, survival is a daily battle against hunger, cold, violence, and disease. Many turn to glue sniffing to numb the pain of their existence. Others fall victim to mob justice, criminal attacks, or simply succumb to the harsh conditions.

The nine coffins at Lang’ata Cemetery represent more than just statistics. They represent children who had names, dreams, and friendships. They represent a society’s failure to protect its most vulnerable.

As the red earth of Lang’ata covered the 15 coffins, traffic on Lang’ata Road roared on, oblivious. Nairobi had buried its shame, but the problem remains alive on the streets.

Tonight, another child will sleep in the cold. Tomorrow, another might not wake up. Unless urgent action is taken, another mass burial may soon be needed.

The question that haunts the city is simple yet profound: How many more children must die before Nairobi confronts this crisis?

Kagure’s foundation has promised to organize a county-wide medical camp for street families and continue pushing for systemic reforms. But for Moses, Nyambura, and the dozens of other street families who watched their friends being buried, the damage is already done.

“From earth you came and earth you return.” The pastor’s words echo across the cemetery, a reminder that in death, at least, these forgotten children finally found peace.

But for those who remain on Nairobi’s streets, the struggle continues. The mystery of why 15 of their own died in such a short span remains unsolved. The city’s indifference remains unchanged. And the next victim, statistically speaking, is already out there, invisible to most, fighting to survive one more day.

Nairobi residents are unknowingly living in death traps, with a staggering 85 per cent of buildings in the capital unsafe for human habitation and vulnerable to collapse even from minor tremors, professional architects and engineers have warned.

The chilling revelation came as construction industry professionals broke their silence following the South C building collapse that killed two people last week, painting a grim picture of a city where corruption, greed and regulatory failure have turned homes into potential mass graves.

“If a tremor, even on a very low Richter scale, happened today, many buildings would come down. We are living by the grace of God,” declared Architectural Association of Kenya President Prof George Ndege in a stark warning that has sent shockwaves through the nation.

The professionals revealed that a 2018 audit by the National Building Inspectorate covering 14,925 buildings found that only 2,194 structures were safe. A staggering 723 buildings were classified as very dangerous, while 10,791 were deemed unsafe and 1,217 rated as fair.

“NBI took a sample of 15,000 buildings and only 15 per cent of them were safe. You are talking about all the others as being unsafe,” said Institution of Engineers of Kenya President Shammah Kiteme, his voice heavy with the weight of the statistics.

The implications are terrifying. Millions of Kenyans go to bed each night in buildings that could become their tombs at any moment. Children attend schools, families worship in churches, workers toil in offices, all within structures that professional engineers warn are fundamentally unsound.

Prof Ndege painted a disturbing picture of daily life in Nairobi’s residential buildings. “How many buildings have natural light during the day? How many have fresh air, family-friendly spaces, proper sanitation and access to open areas for children to play? If you have to switch on your lights during the day, that is a problem. If there is a sewer outside your house, that is a problem. The number of buildings that are not fit for human habitation is extremely high.”

The South C tragedy, where a 16-storey residential building crumbled like a house of cards, has exposed what professionals describe as a toxic cocktail of corruption, political interference, counterfeit materials and regulatory capture that has turned Kenya’s construction sector into what they call a “ticking time bomb.”

Speaking at a joint press conference, leaders from eight registered professional bodies, including the Institution of Engineers of Kenya, The Architects Alliance, Kenya Institute of Planners, Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya, laid bare the rot in the sector.

“Many investigations have been done. There is no evidence that we have implemented the lessons learnt from the dissections and investigations. The failure to make people take responsibility makes this culture of impunity entrenched and there is no way to stop it,” the lobbies warned in a damning indictment of the system.

The professionals revealed that developers routinely add extra floors to buildings mid-construction without redesigning foundations, a practice that significantly increases structural load and the risk of catastrophic collapse. Counterfeit construction materials flood the market unchecked, while quacks masquerading as qualified engineers sign off on deadly designs.

“We worry about counterfeit alcohol because it kills, yet our buildings are killing us silently. We don’t know the quality of materials being used and that is the harsh reality professionals are grappling with,” said The Architects Alliance President Senator Sylvia Kasanga.

Perhaps most shocking is the revelation that corruption has become so entrenched that approvals are routinely fast-tracked through bribery, with powerful political connections shielding rogue developers from consequences.

The South C building itself exemplified the systemic failures. Investigations revealed that the National Construction Authority issued registration before mandatory approvals from county government and the National Environment Management Authority were secured. Additional floors were approved without proof of structural review. The developer was listed as the engineer, raising red flags about conflict of interest. Construction continued despite enforcement notices issued in May, July and December 2025.

“Looking at the rubble, it is clear this was a poor job. Everybody involved took shortcuts. The county bears responsibility for approving four additional floors when the building was nearly complete,” said Lands and Public Works Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome.

A human rights activist has now petitioned the High Court to remove NCA Executive Director Maurice Akech, alleging regulatory failures that contributed to building collapses. Francis Awino argues that Akech is unfit for office due to alleged negligence, incompetence and failure to enforce construction laws despite repeated warnings.

The professionals warned that without immediate and comprehensive reforms, the question is not if another building will collapse, but when. Since 1990, over 200 people have lost their lives in building collapses, with thousands injured and the economy losing over Sh2.4 billion worth of investments.

“The audit must go beyond this incident to examine systemic failures. If we do not address this mess comprehensively, we will forget this tragedy and another building will collapse,” Kiteme warned.

The professionals demanded accountability across the entire chain, from developers and contractors to county governments and regulatory agencies. They called for the blacklisting of rogue contractors, public disclosure of unsafe buildings, and criminal prosecution of those who cut corners.

As Nairobi’s skyline continues to sprout new towers at breakneck speed, the question haunting every resident is simple but terrifying: Is my building next?