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Tuesday 18 February 2014

The Wrath of the LRM in Nairobi Unleashed upon a Good Man

Masterminds OF THE Local Risk Management Committee 
conspire TO help one of their own Members TO Eject his Father 
from his Own Home AND get him Locked up
 IN Mental Unit AT Avenue Hospital
to separate him from his own brother upon whom he relies for safety, 
comfort and emotional support in an adverse family situation

Sadrubhai is the brother and will now unleash his wrath on the LRM (the Nairobi Ismaili security organisation with a base at the religious and cultural centre in Parklands/ Limuru Road)

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This article is about something unpleasant.  

I feel the matter needs exposure because someone's life, rights and happiness appeared to me to be gravely compromised and his brother is currently without a roof over his head and is staying with me.  

It has now become an issue of kidnapping, abduction and displacement:

The brother has authorised me to publish his side of the story.  I have been cautioned by an LRM member (one who allegedly helped to remove Sadrubhai from that house under the auspices of the LRM) that there are always two sides to every story and that I may have jumped the gun, that my estimation and understanding of Nahid's father's condition and wishes are grossly erroneous.  I trust that since the case will likely go to court he will be there to defend his position.  Meanwhile it is not unfair to ask readers (who take similar or opposite positions) to submit their comments to the blog in the comments section and make them public as an expression of the seriousness of their positions.

They entered the house without a warrant, barged into the bedroom where the lights had just been put out (the brothers had retired), and roused the two men, and forced them downstairs.  They handcuffed Sadrubhai and bundled the two men into the police car....
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COMMENTS  

This has provoked much discussion in the Khoja Ismaili community worldwide.  It is therefore being updated to make up for any minor editing or factual errors at 7.30am to 8.30am on 21.1.14.  Readers are welcome to leave their comments in the comments page.  




WHERE IS BADRUBHAI? "HE IS IN MOMBASA, HAVING A GOOD TIME.  HE IS WELL AND HAPPY, I GIVE YOU MY WORD, DON'T WORRY ABOUT HIM."  Alpha 1 LRM

In respect to Zahir Mohamed's charges against me (available for reading) I stand by my basic reasoning especially because Badrubhai's whereabouts at this time are a mystery.  He is still being kept incommunicado in respect of his beloved brother.  Might he have been put away at the wrong kind of place and could he be feeling demoralised where he is right now?  We are very worried.  I have therefore made an inquiry with the President of the council to ask him to make sure that Badrubhai is produced and his choices are respected.  On 21.2.14 the President assured me that Badrubhai was okay but did not tell us his whereabouts so that we could go and see him.  It is not clear whether these whereabouts had been revealed to him and, if not, why not.  I wrote him a text that rejected an offer of conciliation without his recognition of Sadrubhai's unconditional right to talk to his brother immediately.  This right has not so far been recognised.




DID THE OCS INTERROGATE THE SON AND ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN BADRUBHAI'S WHEREABOUTS?

Update 21:55h, 22.2.14:  Sadrubhai and I have handed in a complaint to the police demanding that they find a missing person and this has now mutated into a more serious charge of abduction, with a demand for an immediate reuniting of the two brothers.  The OCS has not yet come back to us about whether he has located Badrubhai but he has said that he had been interrogating the son when we called him at about 17:30h today to alert him.  We called him again at 20:06h ("I'm still in a meeting").  


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OCS SEEMS TO BE NOT READY TO CORRECT HIS ERRORS, REFUSING FLATLY TO GIVE US BADRUBHAI'S LOCATION

STOP PRESS:  OCS is calling us right now as I try to key in what Sadrubhai is saying to him....  "It doesn't matter" says Sadrubhai, "that he (Nahid) brings his lawyer but what I want is to see my brother.  They are denying me my rights...  but which place? ... He's been hidden....  But this shows that they have hidden him....  Why should they hide him?  ... Ya...  ya... ya... but also we....  but you should have told him that we did not commit any offence.... When he brought the LRM and the police cops he was at fault - we had not done any fault and this is what I am fighting for because my brother will really be feeling suppressed....  Okay I'll wait for your deputy to call me." (phone call ended at about 22:10h)


 
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OCS'S REFUSAL TO SUBMIT BADRUBHAI'S LOCATION IS INCREASING THE RISK TO BADRUBHAI'S WELLBEING AND LIFE
The deputy did not call today (Sunday).  We now fear the worst: that the OCS Paul Rioba could well have risked Badrubhai's life and future by not forcing Nahid [at the risk of being arrested for kidnapping or abducting] to deliver him up NOW.  Is this not a form of support for an illegal position?  Suppose, now that Nahid is willing to go to court and will thereby be protecting the LRM and the police -- for wrongful invasion of property and arrest, too, I should think -- suppose Badrubhai is being overloaded with medication?  And if they are going to keep him away from Sadrubhai (which seems legally suicidal) will they not be forced to keep Badrubhai on high doses of medication for prolonged periods to prevent him from speaking his mind coherently, for example when he asks for his brother? It seems that the police has broken the law by not revealing Badrubhai this evening.  Neither Badrubhai nor Sadrubhai were asked to give a statement; nor did the LRM and Nahid give a statement on the material night.

A smart, well-spoken OCS such as this one would know the score - Kenya is a highly corrupt country where people's minds can be abused, where necessary, even with unnecessary medication or drug therapy.  WHY is he now risking Badrubhai's life and, if he is sure he hasn't done so, then how could he be so sure except in the knowledge of Badrubhai's whereabouts and condition from reliable reports?



THE STORY


Visiting Sadrubhai's brother in a psychiatric unit and verifying that the victim is, indeed, my friend, Jiwa, a jamati member

I was at Avenue Hospital on Sunday with my friend, Sadru Jamal (the cricketer) visiting his brother, Badrudin Jiwa in the Psychiatric Unit there.  Sadrubhai reported to me that Badru was of perfectly sound mind, if depressed and frightened and even feeling amazed at how it all happened.

Earlier I was attempting to ascertain who this 'Badrudin' could be.  Sadrubhai uses the surname 'Jamal' and his younger brother, 'Jiwa'.  So after a few minutes of discussion I realised Sadrubhai was talking about the father of one Nahid who was once a student in 7 Venus at Aga Khan School where I was the class teacher.  I had summoned Nahid's parents I believe because I was worried about Nahid's performance.

I bantered with Badrubhai and we joked around. He was looking relaxed and strong, and was smiling  taking the experience in his stride.  I found out later from Sadrubhai that his brother had been through a similar experience in the past twice before and, in a recent Kafkaesque incident, Avenue Hospital had sent an ambulance with five(?) guards in it to bundle him into the vehicle and convey him to the mental unit.


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DISCHARGE HIM IMMEDIATELY.  HE IS NOT MENTALLY INCOMPETENT

Now, at Avenue Hospital again, the aim for Sadru was to obtain a report about the reasons for holding his brother there, failing which he was demanding the the brother be released and allowed to go home.  But the hospital and the doctor appeared to be evasive:  In the file there was a blank except for the statement, "Admitted by Nahid", Badrubhai's son.

Sadrubhai had effectively been kicked out into the cold.  He had actually stayed the night with me at my place, unit 37, at Old Highridge Flats which is how I got drawn into what had happened to him.  Clearly the question that should be asked is whom does Badrubhai want to be with and why.

He had earlier been physically assaulted by his nephew, Nahid, who had gripped him by his arm and said, "Get out from here!" and pushed out of the gate.  That was about a week ago, when Nahid and his wife, Hamida, had arranged to have their father sent to Mombasa on a "holiday" with the princely sum of 7000/= ($90)  in his pocket*.  And there lies the rub:  It was crystal clear to Sadrubhai, who has been with his brother, sharing one room in this very nice three-bedroomed property in City Park since last year, that Hamida and Nahid had discussed how to get Sadrubhai out of the house without causing too many waves.  So this is how they set it up.

Sadrubhai left home and went to stay with this friend for a while, until his brother, Badrubhai, demanded that he come and stay with him in Mombasa at Bamburi Cottages.  By this time Badrubhai was quite at "the end of his wits", if you like:  The house was his and he wanted his brother near him because he was feeling bullied and oppressed by the rest of the family, including his son and his wife, something that had been going on since they lived in Ngara Flats years ago.


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Is this the way we are going in the treatment of our elders, then?

The question arises here about how children should treat a parent who is widowed, retired, aging and, because of possible restrictions, weakening (for some reason Badrubhai does not even carry a mobile phone).  Accomodating elders giving them their due position in society is apparently a new knowledge in our rapidly changing world.  It is a knowledge that is not available in our community here.  Sadrubhai and I have had several discussions about the direction in which the community is going here in Kenya and many of us are attempting to better understand what has gone wrong:  How and why, for example, do families bind and gang up around a member in their midst?  How is it that in other families elders are treated with respect and even reverence?  What are the long-term forces at play?



In this situation Badrubhai is a gentle head of family who has brought up his children to the best of his ability.  Just recently he talked about his son, Nahid (who was my student for a few terms as a child), to me when we were riding the bus together to a burial.  He spoke with pride and satisfaction about his son's achievements in life.  His son and family live with him in his house though he reported that the certificate of title is in his daughter-in-law's custody.



Ganging up against a family member who objects to an action that compromises ethics and then telling the world, "but s/he is mad!"
The basic reason for ganging up against a member of family or community (which has also happened to me in the past) to my mind, is too often related to his level of ethics and standards in and beyond the home or, in the case of a community, on the estate.  When the standard of ethics in a country deteriorate, they also deteriorate commensurately in the community and members often capitulate to shortcuts and get caught up in the game of survival and the sophistication of how to manage legal and business situations with craft.  The biggest mistake that families make in regard to a elder members whose minds are not respected for their knowledge, their experience and the sacrifice they may have made for their family is to 'move on' and leave that person behind in their own psychological and spiritual space.  In most cases it may be likely that the elder gave up control of their financial controls, too.
 
It is easy for family that is now on the curve of success to alienate their elders and usurp their powers for the sake of the changing values they wish to keep up with in society.  Elders, the most important and valuable members of a family are vulnerable and becoming dispensible because their approach to life's values are often not compromising.  Their ethical standards are no longer deemed fashionable or relevant.



FALSELY ARRESTED, DIVIDED, INCARCERATED AND DISPLACED

They said, 'Your brother should not stay here.' My brother said, 'It is better that my brother will stay here and Nahid and his wife and children should go out from the house.'
Currently, Sadrubhai, who is to my mind the only member of the family who is worried about his brother is currently in suspense with no place to stay; his brother is being held like a prisoner in a psychiatric unit in a hospital and the advocates have advised Sadrubhai to demand his immediate release.  The children are busy in their business and seem to be attempting to wrest Badrubhai's sovereignty from him by removing Sadrubhai (his only support and comfort at this time in life) from the house.  They appear to want to transfer the headship of the family to Nahid's wife, Hamida**.

After effectively incarcerating his brother, LRM went to work on Sadrubhai who had been handcuffed, after despatching Badrubhai to Avenue Hospital.  They carted Sadrubhai to the police station where, after realising he wasn't feeling intimidated, they let him go free.

In order to achieve this in a move that beggars belief, one night Nahid and his mates in the LRM arranged with the police at Parklands Police Station to have Badrubhai removed from the house - his own house - and consigned back into the mental unit at Avenue with the assistance of a private psychiatrist, one Professor Kitazi, and held there. They entered the house without a warrant, barged into the bedroom where the lights had just been put out (the brothers had retired), and roused the two men, and forced them downstairs.  They handcuffed Sadrubhai and bundled the two men into the police car.


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"While the LRM were in the sitting room", Sadrubhai reports, "I was in the kitchen warming the food (because the daughter-in-law had declined to do so at my brother's request).  My brother asked LRM people, 'What have you come for into my house?'  They said, 'Your brother should not stay here.' My brother said, 'It is better that my brother will stay here and Nahid and his wife and children should go out from the house.'  Then they walked out of the house (all of them - the LRM, the daughter-in-law and the children) and we went to our bedroom.  That is when Rahil Esmail started talking to the cops and after 45 minutes the cops came."



WHERE IS THE MEDICAL REPORT?

Nothing has so far been written in the file, to the best of our knowledge (which was before the release but as of the current situation since he was discharged, the daughter-in-law is reported to have the report and the hospital refused to give Sadrubhai a copy of that report).  He could be on medication that could harm him and it is not clear whether his heart medication is being administered properly.  After effectively incarcerating his brother, LRM went to work on Sadrubhai who had been handcuffed.  After despatching Badrubhai to Avenue Hospital, they carted Sadrubhai to the police station where, after realising he wasn't feeling intimidated, they let him go free.



WHY IS HE ISOLATED?

Sadrubhai is not weak of heart and his mind is clear:  "I have never been handcuffed in my life!  I asked the policeman what we had done wrong but they told us to 'nyamaza!***.  My brother is being oppressed and suppressed and this has being going on for a long time.  Ask my sisters.  The intimidation, the lies and the humiliation are having a cumulative negative effect on his mind which is, otherwise quite sound."  (I would never have believed either, from my own conversation with Badrubhai in the bus, that he was mentally unfit or incompetent). [Now that Badrubhai's whereabouts are known neither to us nor the highest levels in our community at this time, Sadrubhai is even more worried that Badrubhai will be more susceptible to deliberate isolation and 'therapies' that could cause lasting damage, distress and depression.]



At the police station, Sadrubhai obviously had to be released.  He was asked by the LRM where he wanted to be taken, having clearly ordered him, "You are not allowed to stay in that house."  Without hesitation he said, "Take me to Avenue Hospital.  I want to see my brother."  In order to be sure that their newly acquired position was not threatened by such a move, the LRM boys first went to the Officer in Charge of the police station (OCS) at Parklands for advice and were told, "Go ahead and take him."


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QUESTIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN ADDRESSED

There is more to say about the police, more about Hamida and how we found her sitting like an obedient daughter-in-law at the feet on the end of Badrubhai's hospital bed, about how I know Nahid himself and what his father feels about what he did to him, about Jubiliee Insurance's role in the Social Welfare Board's involvement in the case, how the advocates intend to follow Sadrubhai's and Badrubhai's instruction to them, and how Badrubhai will get back home and once again sit there as the master of his own house.  How would the police get involved in such egregious action without incentive, who was incentivised, and by whom?  Is Sadrubhai interested in the property?  Are the children?  These would be interesting questions to ask.  How on earth does the LRM get involved in such furloughs?  They have been reported to grope at least one member of the jamat that I know of, during Mowlana Hazar Imam's visit and, in my case, members are not being dismissed for allegations of abuse of power, threat to take life, attempt to grieviously injure and intimidate and assault. They are not too worried about their name because there are enough of them there to pat each other on the back. [PS:  One LRM member (one who is alleged to have take the police into Badrubhai's house) has suggested, after reading the earlier edition of this article, that members of the LRM should be allowed to enjoy their leisure even if it includes assaulting someone in a private altercation, if they are not on duty.]


LRM has failed the community.  Disband it

It is quite clear to me that the LRM has to be disbanded.  I have heard reliably about enough incidences and unsatisfactory services to know that this band was conceived of on a day of expediency.  These people are mostly teaching their carefully selected recruits to be menacing where and when their laws are not being followed.  They have been reported to function like Afghans playing buzkashi (each for himself and damn the rules) and there is an informal pecking order which can, through analysis, be intimately correlated to individual members' powers in the community, the larger society and in relation to the police and other influential and grumpy agencies.  This is how they have been taught and are continuing to be taught to function.  Noone knows who is really in charge.  Sadru had called the Member for LRM in the council for advice and assistance early in the game.  This member, one Piri, did the obvious thing, which his own boss, the President of the Council appears to have, until recently, be doing:  He passed the buck.

Like almost everyone in the council they seem to be justifying this appalling conduct by accepting the voluntary positions and then crying, "but I am a volunteer and I have my own business to run."

I ask, who among these people in the council seem competent, committed or interested enough to understand the problem on all its relevant levels?  Who is qualified, motivated or empowered to attempt to find an overarching definition of (and thereby solution to) the problem we are suffering here in this community, in a country where the standards of ethics are sliding down an exponentially curved hill?  My observation is that Piri is intimidated by this horrifying trend as they all are, while they are a part of it, too, because they need positions and power and were eager to take up leadership of organisations that have been set up to exploit rather than give relief and a sense of comfort and security.  They work well as a gang, when they gather together like wolves to address any situation they are given, and resort to force, bullying, doing harm and supporting gangsters on the housing estates.


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------------------ fin -------------------

* I apologise for this error:  It was not 700/= but 7000/= (US$80).  I mistook Sadrubhai's report:  Badrubhai was instructed to go for a week and stay at less expensive places but, extremely angry as he was, he was not going to be cramped.  A very cheap hotel in town where there was no water supply reportedly cost him 400/= ($4.50) p night and the next one he tried was for 700/= and he was still dismayed.  He simply decided to stay at Bamburi Cottages, where the off-season rate at the back row is 3,500/= ($40) p night.  Effectively, according to Sadrubhai, he had been given expenses of about 1,000/= ($12) p day.

**The suspicion now emerges that all this tussling around is for only one reason:  If anyone were to be able to prove that the Badrubhai, a lone widower without any other emotional support to his account, is incompetent, would they not be able to collude to relieve him of possession of the property (which is worth about US$300,000 or $400,000)? Such interested parties could apply for guardianship /custodianship/ trusteeship and thereby even ownership of the property.  So, is this about property?  It may well be.

***[Swahili for 'shut tf up']

Mohamed Jiwa
@kirimba
habaripoacoolnews
Nairobi

Composed from 9:38 AM 2/18/2014 to 11:22 AM 2/18/2014 and 
Originally posted from 11:20 AM 2/18/2014 to 11:40 AM 2/18/2014, 
pictures to follow...
Edited on 21.2.14 (electricity problems prevented completion till 16:00h) 
Updates and edits 22:50h, 22.2.14; 21:50h 23.2.14

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