Residents of Maragua town in Murang’a county on Wednesday congregated at the bus park to listen to the measures put in place to address rising cases of insecurity in the area.
But at 2pm, while they were waiting for members of the security committee to arrive, a vehicle made rounds in the town announcing the meeting had been postponed and would be held on a later date.
The meeting had been organised following last week’s defilement and murder of a three-year-old girl.
Eliza Wamaitha disappeared on February 9 evening while playing with friends outside their rental house. Her body was found the following day in a swamp just metres away.
Days later, the body of an unknown man was found near the Murang’a-Maragua road, a short distance away from Maragua police station.
With no answers about who was behind the spate of murders, residents wanted to have an interactive meeting with security agents to discuss the way forward.
“Since late last year, we have had countless murders and we are living in fear,” a resident, who sought anonymity, told the Star.
“We have a huge problem in Maragua. Major crimes are not prosecuted. They mostly arrest boda boda riders who are then asked for money to secure their release.”
The resident claimed police officers have “commercialised crime” as they ask victims for kickbacks to have investigations conducted and culprits asked for money to avoid arrest and prosecution.
“What we need is a complete overhaul of our security committee including the Nyumba Kumi, which is non-functional. They have not been helping us at all,” she said.
Resident Martin Mwangi said they have been grappling with all manner of crimes, including petty theft.
Mwangi said it’s not uncommon for residents to wake up to stolen clothes hanging lines that are sold to scrap metal dealers.
Mary Wanjiru said her brother was killed in September last year and family members were scolded when they reported the matter to the police. The family has yet to get justice.
Afterwards, she said four other murders have been reported and a 60-year-old man is admitted at a local health facility after he was sodomised two weeks ago while heading home from a posho mill.
“We want to know what steps they are taking to stem crime,” Wanjiru said.
David Kang’ethe claimed a neighbouring village, Mathare, has become a den of criminals and urged police officers to conduct investigations and weed out the criminals.
Residents claimed bhang and other drugs are sold in local shops that are well known to them and the police.
MP Mary Waithera, who later reconvened the meeting, bashed the security team, saying they skipped it to avoid being held accountable.
“Maragua has been covered by a smell of death for a while. In January, four children perished when someone set their house ablaze as they were sleeping. Weeks later, a woman was doused in kerosene and set on fire by a man,” she said.
But deputy county commissioner Gitonga Murungi defended his security team, saying they kept off the meeting after learning the MP had planned a parallel baraza at the same venue.
“Security meetings are the mandate of the security committee. The moment the MP started mobilising for the meeting, it made it appear as if the meeting had been politicised,” he told journalists.
“Even more worrying, the people who mobilised for the meeting on behalf of the MP started saying it would be used to remove security officers. Automatically, our attendance became untenable.”
The team, Murungi said, agreed to call off the meeting and organise another at a later date. “We’re in the process of organising another meeting to address the issues,” he said.
