Government Set To Put Up Several Police Posts In Thika’s Crime Hotspots To Beef Up Security.

Thika West DCC addressing residents during this year's Jamuhuri Day Celebrations at the Thika Stadium.

The government will put up temporary police posts in various security hotspots within Thika West Sub-County in a bid to beef up security especially as we approach the festive season.

This was revealed by the DCC Tom Anjere during this year’s Jamuhuri Day Celebrations at the Thika Stadium.

Anjere said that his security team was working with the business community and other stakeholders to come up with effective ways of ensuring that residents were safe and free to go about their businesses without fear of criminal attacks.

“We have put in place tight security procedures to preempt any criminal activities in this sub-county. We have implemented layered security patrols at several key hotspots in the area. Through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), we will liaise with the business community to procure containers that will be strategically located in various security risk areas to serve as police posts. This will include the Thika Main Bus Station, near the Gatitu Junction and Delta Petrol Station in Makongeni,” said Anjere.

The DCC warned civil servants who failed to execute their duties to the public that his administration would not take this habit lightly. He noted that there was a tendency by some senior officers to abscond duty in the pretense that they had assignments with their bosses at the headquarters in Nairobi.

“Some of our heads of departments have made it a habit to work from Nairobi. I will simply not allow this. If your boss wants you to work from Nairobi, then let him assign you duties there and deploy someone else to work here. We cannot have wananchi suffering for lack of services when those paid to do so are busy doing private practice elsewhere,” he warned.

He pointed out some of the mega projects that the government was undertaking in the region that were destined to be completed sometime early next year. Among them was the sh. 174 million 25km Kivulini-Kiganjo-Castle road which was expected to be complete by April next year, the sh. 3.2 billion Ruiru-Juja-Kimuchu/Kiganjo Sewerage project (July 2017) and the digitisation of the Thika Lands Office (April 2017) that will make it possible for all lands transactions done online.

However, Anjere appealed to those who had not collected their ID cards to do so as there were more than 2000 uncollected IDs at the registrar’s office.

Speaking at the same forum, Thika Sub-County Admin Rose Muthoni Kimani said that the devolved government had scheduled a meeting with representatives of Thika hawkers today (Tuesday) to chart out a workable programme that will restore order in the town.

The hawkers have invaded virtually all the key roads within the CBD, polarising business and other activities in the town, notwithstanding the dangers they are putting pedestrians to.

She added that they moneys had been set aside to gravel several roads within the sub-county to ease movement. She said that services relating to building plans approvals had been digitised under the county government’s e-dam programme (www.edams.kiambu.go.ke).

Thika District Business Association (TDBA) chairperson Alfred Wanyoike appealed to the county government to come up with a concrete strategy to create an enabling business environment otherwise, they were going to ‘kill this town’ if order was not restored.