Murang’a: A section of Maragua constituency residents in Murang’a County have accused security agencies of laxity in stemming increased criminal activities and sale of illegal drugs. The residents of Ciumbu shopping centre and its environs within Makuyu division on Saturday decried a surge in criminal activities including mugging, theft, and house break-ins, attributing the vice to wanton sale and consumption of drugs among young people.
According to Kenya News Agency, their cry comes barely a week after a young mother was attacked and killed after she was waylaid by members of a gang in an early morning incident as she was heading to Kakuzi horticultural firm for work. During a security meeting that brought together members of the county security committee and the area MP Mary Waithera, the residents claimed people who are behind the sale of drugs and illicit brews are well known but nothing much is being done to apprehend and prosecute them.
The area, located about a kilometre from Kenol-Marua Highway, has in the recent past experienced criminal activities with the locals also blaming the poor economic status of the area. One local, Fred Mwaura, said the killing of the young mother last week served as a wake-up call for all to fight against drugs and crime in the area. Mwaura noted that the area has high unemployment rates as the locals have small parcels of land and the only firms they can search for jobs are several kilometres away.
‘A majority of those who work at Kakuzi horticultural company stay here at Ciumbu shopping centre and the criminals are targeting the workers as they waylaid them in the morning and rob them of anything valuable,’ observed Mwaura. He continued, ‘The poor economy has also been dealing a devastating blow to the family unit as not many, especially the young ones, are able to withstand the constrained resources.’ He urged both the national and county governments to engage the local youths in the fight against drug abuse to curb the vice.
MP Mary Waithera challenged the security agents to conclusively deal with the gangs terrorising residents and peddling drugs. The increased criminal activities, the legislator said, pose a challenge to residents working hard to make a living, wondering why no action has been taken against the known culprits peddling drugs. Waithera further alleged the criminals have been peddling drugs to school-going children, lowering their chances of excelling in their studies and generally destabilising their lives.
‘We have some intelligence that the person behind the selling of drugs in this area of Ciumbu is a woman and a mother, yet she’s busy ruining the lives of other people’s children. The murdered woman was a young mother of two children. Who will look after them?’ posed the MP. Waithera divulged that one time while investigating the issue, she sent someone to buy bhang from the shop and true to the allegations, the person brought back drugs from the shop. Waithera also asked management of Kakuzi Company to consider clearing bushes near Ndera dam to make the area safer for residents, failure to which the residents would clear them themselves.
The area Assistant County Commissioner Alex Wainaina confirmed a surge of criminal activities in the area saying the drug peddlers have hired youths to inform them about police presence. ‘Let the locals take responsibility and work with security agents to halt the selling of drugs in this area. It’s wrong for some locals to aid criminals to avert police arrests,’ noted Wainaina. He stated that one day when they raided the shop suspected to be selling drugs, they recovered 1,000 pieces of paper used to wrap bhang but no bhang was found, adding that the shop also reeked of paraffin to dilute the smell of bhang and other drugs.
The administrator said the evidence found could not have sustained a court case and that they had to release the trader. ‘What is more shocking is that it is women who are carrying out these criminal businesses. Soon after, we arrested another woman in Mugira village with two kilograms of bhang and she was fined Sh40,000 by the court,’ he added. The ACC pledged to ensure the insecurity is stemmed and single business permits of those suspected of selling drugs are revoked.
Apart from insecurity in the Ciumbu area, residents of Maragua town within the same subcounty have in the recent past protested rising insecurity that has so far claimed six people since January.