Nosrborg Musikhuset was packed to capacity with Kenyan Party lovers and friends. Both DJ Safi and DJ EZ Frank were working the crowd with favourite tunes which could hardly enable the revellers to have their bottoms on their seats for even three minutes. As soon as one hot number ended, another one began in an endless cycle that at times, saw the dancers form themselves into a circle of humanity as “Wacha waseme” taraab tunes boomed from the speakers. It was a night to remember and the crowd kept on swelling as the night gave way to a Sunday morning.
It was a good night and Wakenya were posing for pictures together with their spouses for the blog. One daring Kenyan couple even had a “deep kiss” for the camera and hoped that it would be published. To be honest, Sound of Blackness knows their thing. Wakenya have never experienced the level of professionalism when it comes to Udijey and you could feel the skill which was reflected on the dance floor as some revellers literally “lost control”. At a psychological level, the heavy Sound of blackness equipment sent a message that the big boys are eventually in town to show Wakenya how it’s done.
It was not until the wee hours of the morning that hell broke loose. The Party was suddenly turned into another Iraq and according to some Kenyan analysts, it was the worst battle ever at a Kenyan Party.
I was at a strategic location near the dance floor gathering scenes for the blog when a KISS agent rushed and alerted me that there was a “developing story” at the entrance which needed urgent and extra attention so I rushed to the place. When I arrived, a man was lying in a pool of blood which meant that I missed the real action. I scanned the locality and it was not long before I located another Kenyan “who saw the action live” because he was just two metres from the centre of action. There was no time to waste and I moved to the next stage – getting an eye witness account as other Wakenya tried to help the man who had been floored.
The exact disagreement that provoked the battle is not yet known. However, the overall development of the battle and key tactics that were at play have now been put together.
The battle started near the door where three Rwandese nationals cornered a Kenyan male after some tiff. According to a witness, the Kenyan was cornered in a way that he just had to defend himself. He threw a punch at one of the Rwandese who landed immediately. The second Rwandese then went on the attack but the Kenyan gave him a sharp uppercut on the jaw bone which sent him spiralling down immediately. Noticing that his colleagues were already down, the third Rwandese pounced on the Kenyan thereby provoking a heavy whack on the fore-head which landed him on the floor.
In about fifteen seconds, the three Rwandese had all been floored. As he sent them down one by one, the Kenyan is reported to having been asking “What do you want from me man….what’s wrong with you man…hey man what do you want from me”. He asked the three questions when the punches were already on their way and at the end of every question, someone was down on the floor.
ROUND TWO AND “POWER KNOCKOUTS” BY THE “KENYAN NINJA”
The Rwandese have fought many battles so one of the guys who was floored managed to stand on his feet to continue with the fight and that is when he got another thwack on the head forcing him down round two. The number two Rwandese to be floored also made it on his feet, probably thinking that the first hit was just a matter of luck. He was hit so hard that he never made it again. He is the guy who was lying on his back in a pool of blood. It is reported that he fell “like a gunia of potatoes from a lorry” and hit the back of his head on something which made him to start bleeding.
There was panic among spectators who got more than what they bargained for – a good Party. The guy who failed to make it back on his feet began to get into a state of unconsciousness and this is when the Ambulance was called. His mouth was full of blood while he had a cut on the head which created a pool of blood at the scene.
People thought he was going to die. Realising that the three guys were prostrate on the floor, the Kenyan (who was later dubbed “Ninja”) was taken care of by other Wakenya who smuggled him outside the battle zone because police was also on the way. The whole scenario played itself in just 30 seconds and the show was over. It was much shorter than the Nonini show which lasted for 30 minutes at 200 kr.
In the meantime, the two Rwandese who were down began to crawl slowly on their feet and it is not clear how they melted from the place. One of them was later seen limping towards Norsborg tube station to board the night bus.
The police was the first to arrive in four cars followed closely by a huge Ambulance. Police found when a Kenyan was trying to keep the Rwandese conscious by talking to him. When asked what he was telling the floored Rwandese, the Kenyan said that he kept telling him that an Ambulance was on the way. A total of four police cars pulled outside Musikhuset and closed down the Party as they began to take statements. Wakenya just maintained that they “never saw anything”. Everybody was like “when I came, the guy was lying on the floor” and that kinda thing.
The general mood among Wakenya was that of happiness because people were like “How can foreigners come to spoil our Parties with violence”. Others were of the view that the Rwandese were lucky because they just got a dose from one Mkenya (eti the Mkenya was enough for the three of them) and that if other Kenyans had joined in, they could have been killed and we could have been dealing with a case of triple murder.
The fracas came two weeks after four Gambians caused trouble at the Kesofo Party on 1st December. They smashed the door window at Norsborg Musikhuset with a stone, forcing Wakenya to give a chase so that they could be made responsible but they escaped. Kesofo had to pay heavily for the window.
PEACEFUL KENYANS AND VIOLENCE “FROM FOREIGNERS”
It was when I was in the process of gathering information that I got my dose of the thwack. I was in the middle of getting an eye witness account of what had happened from a Kenyan buddy when another Kenyan came to interrupt so I told him politely to give us time so that I could get the story.
Before I could continue, the Kenyan bashed me on the cheek bone. Luckily, I never fell down – thanks to the gunias of ugali and plenty of ngege samakis from Tajmahal. When I asked him why he was throwing blows, I made a big mistake because that question earned me another whack. I and the Kenyan who was giving the eye witness account were shocked.
A guy was already fighting for his life, lying down in a pool of blood and my imagination was that if I followed my instincts and provoked the Ninja inside me, a new pool of blood could easily be created with a new ambulance being called at the scene so I told him that I am calling police to handle the case because he had already taken the law on his own hands. I am in the frontlines in fighting against communal violence and just imagine what could have happened if stories going around had it that Osewe thwacked a guy and left him in a pool of blood and police had to be called. He fled from the scene, he is a wanted man and blah blah blah.
When the guy noticed that I was not bluffing with the question of police intervention, he slipped out of the hall and fled from the crime scene as fast as his legs could carry him. Police did come and recorded a statement both from me and the eye witness “who saw it live”.
Together with police, we started looking for the guy. We checked all the spider holes at Norsborg but the guy was nowhere. A Kenyan told me that the last time he saw the wanted Kenyan, the boy appeared drunk and was running away like a scared rat. He is now busy, sending emissaries looking for peace but I believe that he needs to pay up for his stupidity!!
He is a young boy trying to build a career as a Taxi driver while selling green bananas from Kenya – door to door. To promote him, I have been his customer twice and he has brought bananas on my door. How will he now come to my Crib to sell makote, now that he has thwacked a good customer who has been trying to make him rich but who is now waiting for his day in court? Isitoshe, how will he sell bananas to my friends and fans who have been consoling me since the ugly incident which happened in public?
I don’t want to use the kathing to claim that the guy might have been sent by the Kenyan Ambassador to attack me but I could not help laughing when another Kenyan called and told me that the guy could be related to Lucy Kibaki who has been slapping people at State House and that the difference is that he is in trousers.
At the Jamhuri Party at Scandic Hotel, an armature Kenyan blogger was whacked by another Kenyan during a scuffle and police had to be called. During the brief battle, the blogger was cut with a wine glass and as he called police, he was bleeding from the hand.
When he went to his blog, he not only referred to the Kenyan by name but also abused him thoroughly, calling him “A big stomached biggot (bigot)” and that he “likes free “pombe” that he nibbles like a tilapia in Lake Victoria” and other related expletives. Should Kenyans use blogs to throw abuses at one another and to promote hatred? Imagine what will happen if the two Kenyans meet at another Party!
Although you cannot “nibble pombe” we sympathised with the Kenyan under attack. The blogger also claimed that police came to Vasa to look for the guy. This is not true because I was there. As if the blogger is fighting a battle with me and although he was not at the Party, he has tried to exaggerate the story “beyond proportion” to feed his blog and claimed that I was whacked three times, a claim that is not true. The cost we will be dealing with in court is that of two blows.
At Alby, a scuffle broke out some times back between a Kenyan businessman and his buddy. When the businessman tried to fight back, he was whacked thoroughly and he left the place “drenched in blood”. Should Wakenya answer violence with violence at Kenyan parties?
Okoth Osewe
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