Gutsy 10-year-olds misspend Sh200,000 on city’s high life

A busy street in Eastleigh, Nairobi. Armed with Sh50,000 and in a big city; the three Wajir boys embarked on a touring and spending spree, mostly buying clothes and sweets. FILE PHOTO | NMG Eastleigh

What you need to know:

  • By the time they made it to Nairobi on Sunday last week, they had already spent Sh150,000 between Wajir and the capital.
  • During the day, they hired a taxi driver who took them around the capital mostly to Uhuru Park to take photos.

  • They even bought two bicycles which they would ride in the evening in Eastleigh.

“You only live once”, or Yolo as it is known in its swankier short form, is a popular phrase among the younger generation.

But if what three young boys from Wajir County did last week is anything to go by, then the youth should probably get another catchphrase to justify their adventurous and at times, reckless ways.

SH200,000

Were it not for a police raid at the Riverside Hotel, a popular lodging on 11th Street, Eastleigh in Nairobi, the three youngsters, two aged 10 and the other 11, could probably be on the streets by now after spending their entire loot.

They had Sh30,000 on them when officers from the Pangani Police Station pounced. Mohamed Ismail, a community leader in Eastleigh, who together with journalist Yassin Juma, facilitated their release from the police cells, says the youngsters even tried to bribe the officers who arrested them.

“I have not seen children who are as daring and devious as those three boys,” says Ismail.

“One of their parents told me to let the son remain in police cells or even be taken to an approved school because she could not take any more of his mischief,” he says.