JJ is a celebrity in Mathare slum. He waves at everyone as he limps along, his grin exposing a big tooth gap. He stops when people clamour for a handshake and listens when they whisper in his ear about a problem.
He’s greeted by cheers.
JJ jumps over open sewers onto wet dumpsites converted into narrow pathways between mabati shacks in the depths of Mathare slums.
His real name is Kennedy Chindi, but everyone calls him JJ, a name he earned from his soccer skills. A name he would later use in what he calls the “other world” of crime.
“Three things that describe me define my life; my limp, toothgap and nickname. The limp I got from the other world, the missing tooth from my current world and the name will always be,” he said.
“I grew up here. My family moved into Mathare slums after my father was dismissed from the Air Force after the 1982 attempted coup,” he tells the Star.
JJ is a former criminal, robbery mastermind and now a human rights defender. He founded Mathare Social Justice Centre in 2015 to uphold the rule of law in the slums.
The 46-year-old is a hero to residents, mostly because his personal phone is the area hotline, not only for those seeking justice but for anyone with any problem.
A drunken husband who has neglected his family, a sick child who needs medical funding, a young boy whose parents suspect is using drugs.Without discriminating, JJ attempts to resolve everything brought to him.
“When we started MSJC we met a lot of opposition. We were a government watchdog with leverage on extrajudicial executions,” he said.
JJ said in this “other’ world”, he was a hardcore criminal, a regular visitor to police cells and prison. He joined a gang when he was in Gendia High School which he attended with (now) high-profile people like Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa and renowned lawyer Harun Ndubi.
“In 1988, I was arrested and locked up, forcing me to drop out in Form 3. When I got out, I became a full-time robber.”
THE TURNING POINT
The father of five said his popularity increased with every arrest, especially after serving eight years at Kamiti Maximum Prison. “In 1990, I went to rob a bar with three other gangsters when the alarm went off, we were caught in a crossfire with the police. I was shot in the leg, then arrested,” he said.
When he got out, the three had been felled. He joined another group where he was the ‘Godfather’.
“They called me Bazenga (Father) and bowed to my orders. But after a few arrests and releases, I decided to change.” He abruptly ended his life of crime in 2004 and joined a human rights organisation.
“It wasn’t easy but I was determined. We left after a huge unga revolution demonstration that attracted a lot of attention and the organization felt targeted by the government. We left in 2013 and in 2015, we started MSJC with six others,” he said.
MSJC partners with the Ghetto Foundation, Crime Si Poa, Give Direct and many others to provide employment, entrepreneurship courses and grants for rehabilitated youths to help with reintegration.
“People said I must have hit a jackpot and that I would fall back once it’s finished. To prove them wrong, I stayed focused,” he narrates happily. “Nowadays, I get the same thrill I had on the ‘other side.’ ...“Cops beat me up and broke my tooth, the same day they beat activist Boniface Mwangi hurting him on the chest.”