Thika CID Officer Thrown Out Of His House In Kiambu-Murang'a Border Row.

A border dispute between Kiambu and Murang'a counties has once again escalated after a Thika-Based CID officer was forcefully ejected from house in Ndururumo Police Post by the OCPD Gatanga Police Division for allegedly residing in the premises against the rules.

The officer, name withheld for his own security, said that the Gatanga police boss sent some of his officers on Monday evening, broke into his single-roomed house and threw all his belongings out of the house.

According to sources privy to the whole incident, the senior officer claimed that the station belonged to Murang’a County and no Kiambu-Based police officer had the right to occupy the premises at the expense of his officers.

The house was immediately occupied by a Gatanga-Based police inspector.

The affected officer has been living in the said house since December 2009 and has been operating from the same room for all those years.

He claimed to have spent the night in a rented room after he came home to find his belongings scattered all over.

He feared to have lost some money and other vital personal items in the process.

“After 6 years of serving in the area is this the way to reward an officer for his diligent service? How does an officer throw out another officer from the house without even giving the victim time to relocate?” he asked.

According to police ranks, an officer of the rank of an inspector is eligible for some house allowance and can therefore rent a house outside the station. Houses in the police line are mostly left for junior officers in the stations.

This action opened a Pandora’s Box since some of the senior officers in Kiambu County reside in the perceived Murang’a County territory. The residences of both the Thika West Deputy County Commissioner and the OCPD Thika are both within the Murang’a side of the boundary.

Ndururumo Police Post has been built using funds from the former Juja Constituency (now Thika Town Constituency) and the LATIF/LASDAP Funds from the former Municipal Council of Thika. The post is in Maboromoko Estate opposite Blue Post Hotel, an estate occupied by a 100% Thika residents.

In July last year, a revenue clerk was injured during a border scuffle between Murang’a and Kiambu counties. The Murang’a clerk, then stationed in near Jogoo Kimakia Hotel, was attacked and injured by Kiambu county askaris who came in a convoy armed with clubs, and told them they were collecting levies in an area that belonged to Kiambu.

They also allegedly confiscated receipt books and took the money they had collected.

The two counties have been embroiled in a border dispute since the county governments came into force.

The disputed areas include Pendo, Maporomoko, Jogoo Kimakia, Thika Sports Club, Blue Post, the Delamere and other farms which are high end estates that both counties have been fighting to control that but are said to fall within Gatanga constituency.

While Murang'a maintains the border of the two counties is Chania River, Kiambu on the other hand says that should not be the border point since they offer services to the neighbouring high end estates.

Kiambu Governor William Kabogo said the alleged boundary dispute since 2013 was ill motivated and politically castigated.

According to Kabogo, the dispute is imaginary and he asked concerned leaders to enquire from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which was mandated to demarcate the boundaries after the creation of counties to get clear answers.

“We haven’t created our own boundaries and those raising the matter should ask IEBC or raise the matter in Parliament and not on the streets,” Kabogo said then.

 
“The people in those areas are in Kiambu and they will pay levies to Kiambu because they get services from us. I have talked with my Murang’a counterpart and there is not dispute only a few individuals want to create it,” he added.