Bandits terrorise Dar`s Kigamboni hostel zone

A sizeable number of students from various universities, colleges and schools putting up at private hostels at Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam are living in deep and pervasive fear for their lives and the safety of their property.

This follows a wave of raids at the hostels, most often at night, believed to involve criminal elements from neighbouring areas hunting for laptops, mobile phones, money and various other valuables.

Sources say two of the raids have left at least two male students seriously injured, one nursing machete wounds and admitted to the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute (MOI). One of the students hurt is said to be from the main (Dar es Salaam) campus of the Institute of Finance Management (IFM).

This paper has it on good authority that representatives of the IFM administration have on several occasions toured parts of the Kigamboni suburb commonly raided by the bandits and held talks with local residents, but this does not appear to have helped.

The exact number of hostels raided and students accommodated there has yet to be established, but Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova is said to have visited the terrorised areas earlier this week to assess the situation on the ground.

Impeccable sources told this paper that armed police officers have since that visit been deployed to the hostel sites to ensure law and order and thus reassure panic-stricken residents about that the situation was under control and there was no cause for alarm.

“Commander Kova toured the area some three or four days ago for a first-hand account of the situation after he had learnt of what was going. Soon after, we discovered that there was an especially heavy presence of regular and other police personnel on day and night patrol,” said a Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy student accommodated at one of the half-dozen or so hostels in the area.

“But this has not stopped students from taking away their laptops, mobile phones and other valuable items for safe custody at their respective homes and other places of their choice,” she added.

The student, who sought strict anonymity “for fear of my safety”, said her hostel is one of four or five along what is popularly known as Serengeti Street, “which has been targeted by the bandits on three occasions recently and where we are all scared of moving around except when we are in groups”.

“It is very awkward for a university or college student to be forced into moving without a laptop or a mobile phone, as these gadgets play a decisive role in academic life. We hope the police patrols will remain in force for a long enough time for lasting peace to prevail,” she added.

Another student, who said his hostel was raided once last month, expressed fear that things could worsen unless security is intensified through sustainable intervention by law-enforcement agents and through community policing.

“We are fortunate that, until now, the gangsters have only targeted money and technological gadgets. But one day they may choose to inflict even more harm, including resorting to rapes and killings,” he added, calling for immediate consultations between government and university authorities on ways to solve the problem once and for all.

The student noted that one of the parts of Kigamboni especially notorious for the raids is Tungi, “an area where soldiers could be easily deployed to complement police efforts to restore peace and harmony”.

Contacted, Commander Kova refuted to have visited the hostels saying that it was not his work adding that he has his commanders who could do the work.

The Temeke RPC Englebert Kiondo when contacted said he planned to pay an abrupt visit to the area so that he could get sufficient information on how to deal with the criminals.

"I received a phone call yesterday from a person identified as one of the students living in one of the hostels at Kigamboni informing me about the crime…I am planning to visit the area,” he said.

He said he would seek more information from the Officer Commanding District before visiting the hostels which have been affected by the crime.

Such raids have also been reported in other private hostels around the city, which boasts the highest number of higher institutions of learning, but limited on-campus accommodation facilities.