Maragua MP Mary Waithera in Maragua town/ALICE WAITHERAMaragua residents have expressed anger over the failure by security agents to attend a baraza organised to address rising insecurity.
The baraza that was organized at the Maragua bus park failed to kick off for hours after information was spread that the meeting had been postponed, forcing residents who had already congregated to disperse.
A vehicle went around the town announcing that the meeting would be held after the burial of a three-year-old who was defiled, murdered, and her body dumped in a swamp last week.
Eliza Wamaitha disappeared while playing with friends last Sunday outside her mother’s rental home in Maragua town only for her body to be recovered the following day while half dressed.
Her limbs had been broken, with a post-mortem conducted at Murang’a County Government’s mortuary confirming that she was killed by blunt-force trauma and had been sexually violated.
But the residents who spoke to journalists wondered why security agents would postpone such a vital meeting, saying the insecurity has kept them in a state of apprehension.
Maragua MP Mary Waithera in Maragua town/ALICE WAITHERA“Days after the child was murdered, the body of an unknown man was recovered dumped near the Maragua Murang’a road and a few meters away from Maragua police station,” Martin Mwangi, a resident, said.
Meanwhile, a 60-year-old man is nursing injuries at Maragua Level Four hospital after he was sodomised by unknown men.
“This town has high levels of crime, including petty theft. Thieves have also been steeling hanging lines that they sell to scrap metal dealers,” he added, saying they had hoped to get answers from the police.
Mary Wanjiru, another resident, said her brother was murdered in September last year and that her family’s quest for justice has not been fruitful.
“They came to his house and murdered him at Escort Estate, and when we went to the police to follow up, they scolded us,” she said.
The residents said the lack of cooperation from security agents have widened the gap between them and the public and worsened the security levels.
David Kang'ethe, a resident of Maragua town, addresses journalists on insecurity/ALICE WAITHERAArea MP Mary Waithera, who attended the meeting, called for the deployment of top security agents in her constituency, saying they have failed to maintain peace.
“I was shocked earlier today when my calls to the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) went unanswered. They have absconded this meeting because they did not want to be held accountable,” she added.
Waithera said should the situation not be remedied as soon as possible, the economy of the constituency will be crippled by the high crime.
“We have mothers and fathers who are in agony right now after losing their loved ones in attacks. How can they then postpone such a meeting?” She wondered, adding that drugs such as bhang are hawked by well-known people who are yet to be apprehended.
But DCC Gitonga Murungi said the team was apprehensive that the MP would politicize the meeting, making it impossible to have a fruitful meeting.
“The issues plaguing Maragua are social and require people to soberly talk about them to get the way forward, so we decided to let her have her day and we will plan another baraza,” Murungi said.
He, however, noted that contrary to the locals' claims, the police are investigating the many criminal cases that have been reported in the area.
