Roysambu Estate Where politicians have Mpango wa Kando and Drinking Sprees Drive Economy

Along Thika Superhighway lies Roysambu estate which unlike its neighbouring hoods like Kasarani, Zimmerman, Mirema and Githurai, Roysambu has appealing features that gives it an upper hand.

Easy accessibility, security, reliable basic amenities, tarmacked roads and feeder roads plus modernised houses makes the lives of well-heeled tenants comfortable.

However, behind the veneer of this comfort and calmness lies secrets of debauchery that have earned Roysambu the nickname “Mpango wa kando estate”.

Fornication and alcohol consumption are major ways of life here and have charmed scammers, mostly some West Africans, who live airy lifestyle courtesy of illicit money they swindle unsuspecting Kenyans.

Young girls are ‘kept’ here by the moneyed sponsors. Their lives largely revolve around wild intimacies and boozing.

It was here the late IEBC ICT Manager Chris Msando reportedly had a girlfriend identified as Carol Wairimu Ngumbu. After the two were killed by unidentified people in August 2017, Msando’s car was found at the estate.

Behind Roysambu aka Roysa is Lumumba Drive where almost every politician has a mpango wa kando, most of them students of United States International University and those of Pan African Christian University, as well as those from Kenyatta University, models and some media girls.

Their sponsors are politicians, businessmen and celebrities. A former governor from Mt Kenya has a girlfriend here as well as many known musicians.

Certainly, the economy of Roysa is largely driven by these side chics, drinking, scamming and partially online writing by some unemployed youth.

Many families that lived quiet lives in the estate have moved to neighbouring areas as young damsels rule, shifting from one pub to the other while showing off cars given to them by their sponsors. The payback comes in the form of silent moaning below sweating pot-bellied wazees.

It is always vibrant in Roysa. Dozen wines and spirits shops dot the estate to quench their thirst and after unprotected games between the sheets, chemists are in abundance to tackle the unwanted outcome.

Butcheries and eateries are also in big numbers, all according to the operators, making a kill from this generation living flamboyantly.

“Comparing it with neighbouring estates, Roysambu is exceptional. On a busy working day you bump into young girls getting home from a night of drinking or going to drink,” a journalist living there revealed.

“They are rarely in school studying. You learn they don’t belong to your class if you dare approach one with some lowly ‘vibes’. They live way beyond their means thanks to sponsors,” he adds.

Theirs is a symbiotic affair where sponsors take care of their accommodation and fancy lifestyle and in return, the receive cloud nine reaching intimacy and some company to events or drinking spree to brag to their aged friends.

Before privacy and tranquility factors attracted this group of residents to Roysambu, the estate was preferred by families and middle-class people.

When the young breed of Nairobians trooped in and rental and lifestyle cost went high, they gradually pushed out aged residents living a ‘dull’ lifestyle. They started attracting the older rich men yearning for an adulterous lifestyle with young chics and with time, more men rented houses here for them.

But looking back to about three decades we see fornication was part of Roysambu.

In the 1980s, unbridled lovemaking escapades thrived in Roysambu but the trend ebbed away making this estate a bit holier. It, however, made a comeback as an estate for hiding mpangos when Thika superhighway was built.

Before independence, this area was undeveloped and was called Royal suburbs belonging to British army and an Israelite.

The nearby notable infrastructure was Spread Ego Hotel, now known as Safari Park Hotel. Royal Suburbs was thus corrupted to ‘Roysambu’.

There was, however, a slum nearby called Gicagi Kia Ndurika (Village of the immoral people) because of its infamous amorous lifestyle, prostitution and alcoholism.

In the 1990s, they were ejected to pave way for a Kenya Power sub-station. They pitched a tent on Roysambu land and established a shanty which today stretches from Thika road and borders the Roysambu estate on the upper side.

Here are dozens of liquor dens and fornication is still rampant though not equivalent to what goes on inside Roysa.

Peter Nduati, a taxi driver says Thika Road Mall (TRM) made it even easier for sponsors to visit their young girls unnoticed.

The mall is a decoy of a kind where they park their vehicles then walk or take a taxi to their mpango’s apartment and can even spend a night.

“The affair between the old men and young women here in Roysambu has given us jobs. Just check around and tell me where else deep in the estate you find taxi people operating outside rental buildings? in Roysambu we do because there is business for us inside those houses,” Nduati explained.

These young ones are well kept and even bought cars. On a Tuesday while other Kenyans are rushing to work you find Roysambu girls lazing around, looking for some meat to battle hangover or a pub to “kufungua lock”.

“Wines and spirits open very early. Drinking here starts early and goes till late at night. House parties are order of the day. I tell you this mpango thing and alcohol consumption drives the economy of Roysambu,” a wines and spirits owner told Opera News.

The carefree lifestyle, good houses and privacy of sort has also attracted Nigerians who also hunt these varsity girls while running their illicit scamming activities.

This is common in pricey apartments near TRM where they reside and only emerge in the evenings to drink and entertain local chics.

Police have done some raids here and arrested a dozen of them but business operators say their illegally gotten money flow in the estate making it vibrant.

“We have a dozen butcheries here and all of us end up making good money. Money from sponsors and foreigners keep us going in Roysambu. Ask yourself why TRM was built here? they know they have a market in Roysambu estate,” a butchery owner identified as Kang’ethe disclosed.

“Some houses have biometrics entry systems that ensure the sponsor and his young lass can entertain each other without fear of intruders. We have also learnt to look the other way lest we lose them to other neighbourhoods” a caretaker said.

Another advantage of Roysambu is that if the sponsor is smoked out by Mama wa nyumba there are several escape routes.

There are several taxis on standby and such sponsors can escape through the main entrance connecting to Thika superhighway, proceed to Nairobi, Thika or towards Kasarani.

If that is impractical at that moment, they can proceed to Kamiti road or using Lumumba drive connect to Mirema road and connect to Kamiti road or drive towards Safari Park hotel and join the superhighway.

However, when this lassie-sponsor affair collapses, the chic moves out of Roysambu to nearby cheaper estates albeit an embarrassed lot to start hustling.

“There is always an end to it. Some end up with something tangible for themselves but many with nothing other than clothes and tales of how they enjoyed life in the first lane. We see them coming to Roysambu with hype but leaving on an old ask-for-transport pick-up or mkokoteni,” Alice Mueni, a trader there revealed.

There are however many old and young men and women living responsibly in Roysambu and they pay rents and manage their lifestyle from their own pockets.

“The image of mpango wa kandos is prominent in Roysa but there are residents like us living quietly without those wild escapades. But we have learnt to co-exist because this is a good estate,” another resident stated.