THIKA: 2017 Year in Review (PART I).

Photos of some of the major events that happened in Thika in the last quarter of 2017.

As we usher in the New Year 2018, Thika Town Today takes a stock of the past 365 days of 2017 and review the major incidents that hit the headlines in Thika.

2017 has certainly has been ‘eventful’ for the 237ners and we take you down memory lane on that 12 month journey we did together..

December 2017

Father kills his children aged 2 and 7, then attempts suicide.

A 32-year-old man has killed his two children before turning the same knife on himself on the night of Boxing Day.

James Kioho Wanjiku stabbed to death his seven-year old son and two-year-old daughter at his house in Kiganjo Estate Thika at around 7:30pm.

He was later arraigned in court for murder and attempted suicide.

Lands CS visits Thika Lands Registry.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has expressed displeasure in the bad records management at the Thika Lands Registry which could be attributed to the loss of files and time wastage.

The CS was also shocked to discover that officers at the registry lacked some of the vital documents required for them to do their job effectively.

Kaimenyi promised to immediately dispatch to the registry, all the requisite data avail to ensure that its staff did their according to the law.

18 people die in a horror road crash near Kilimambogo.

18 people, among them two minors, perished after a 14-seater PSV matatu belonging to KINATWA SACCO rammed onto a lorry on the night of 17^th.

The accident, which occurred at around 7pm, is said to have happened when the matatu driver tried to avoid hitting a motorcyclist and veered off his lane, ending up hitting an oncoming Isuzu lorry, killing 11 people on the spot.

The KINATWA matatu was heading to Kitui from Nairobi direction heading to Kitui.

Kenya Mpya suspended by NTSA.

The National Transport and Safety Authority - NTSA on 8^th suspended the Thika-based Kenya Mpya bus company following a series of complaints of indiscipline and speeding by its crew.

NTSA announced the action during a crackdown along Thika Superhighway targeting non-complaint public service vehicles, catching many travellers unawares.

The fleet resumed normal operations a fortnight later after fulfilling the conditions set by NTSA.

Shocked doctors remove 13 needles inside a 10 month-old infant.

Doctors at Thika Level 5 Hospital were baffled to find 14 needles inside a 10 month-old infant whose mother claimed that to have no idea how they got inside her daughter’s body. The pins had been lodged in the infant’s buttocks and thigh.

The parents of the kid were later arraigned in court and are out on a Ksh. 300,000 bond.

November 2017.

Prominent taxi driver killed by unknown people

A prominent taxi driver was on the morning of 29^th killed in cold blood attack by unknown people inside his compound in Section 9 estate, Thika town. The gangsters, who seemed to have been waiting from the inside, waylaid Francis Kariuki Wainaina (Karis) as he was the gate for the wife to drive into the compound.

According to the deceased’s wife, Naomi Wanjiku Chege, the couple were just getting home from a function at around 3am when the deceased got out of the car to open the gate for her only for him to fail to do so, leaving her alone in the car.

KES. 1.5B for link roads to ease Thika traffic.

The government, through Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), will spend Sh1.5 billion in the 

next 24 months to construct about 25-kilometre link roads within Thika Town Constituency in a bid to decongest the town and stimulate the region’s economy.

This revelation KURA Central Kenya Regional Manager Jacinta Mwangi at a stakeholders meeting at a Thika hotel adding that the project that has been divided into two phases.

Area MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina (Jungle) promised to lobby to have Thika-Garissa Highway to be upgraded to a dual-carriage road all the way to Matuu in order to open up the economic activities in the region and boost trade with Machakos, Kitui and Garissa Counties. 

Crafty thieves steal Sh. 50m from KCB Thika Branch

Unknown thugs pulled off a Hollywood-style heist by digging a 2.5 feet wide tunnel to the strong room of the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Thika Branch from a building adjoining the bank's store locker room and looted over Ksh. 50 million in cash. 

Reports suggested that the tunnel was about 30 metres long and was about 1.5 meters high.

Police later arrested four suspects and recovered about Ksh. 21 million from the suspects. The suspects are now out on a Ksh. 2million bond each after a Thika court reduced an earlier bond of Ksh. 4million each and an assurity of the same amount.

Curtains fall on veteran politician and business icon, Ali Kabati.

Ali Mohammed alias Ali Kabati, a veteran politician and former Deputy Mayor in the defunct Thika Municipal Council died Wednesday 15^th November at his home aged 98 after a long illness.

Mzee Kabati was among a few lucky politicians to have served in almost all post independent regimes. He was a close ally of the founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, his predecessors Daniel Arap Moi, Emilio Mwai Kibaki and the current President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.

Floods hit Thika as worst rain in years destroys property worth millions.

Property worth millions of shillings has been destroyed by flash floods which hit Thika Town on the 11^th following a heavy downpour.

Kiandutu, Kiganjo, Makongeni, Kisii, Landless and Gatuanyaga areas were the worst hit with an estimated 20,000 people heavily affected.

Area MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle spent the entire day mobilising rescue missions and helping to drain away the floods. He gave out five graders and excavators to the affected area to offer emergency drainage.

Businessman shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kiganjo.

A Thika businessman was shot dead by unknown assailants outside his house in Kiganjo Estate, Thika West Sub-County.

Paul Kiarie was gunned down at around 9pm under mysterious circumstances after the gunmen waylaid from a Toyota probox packed near his home on the 8^th.

The slain businessman operated two popular hardwares in Kiganjo and Muthara area. 

October 2017.

Man kills wife’s lover found in marital bed

Police in Thika arrested a man and his wife for reportedly killing his wife’s lover. The suspect, Stanley Mwangi is said to have assaulted the deceased, Francis Maina, after he caught Maina red-handed having sex with his wife at their matrimonial home in Mali Mali area of Kiganjo Estate in Thika West Sub-County.

The incident happened on the evening of 15^th when the suspect arrived home unannounced only to catch the lovers in the act.

Police arrested the suspect and his wife Stella Wambui who were later arraigned in a Kiambu Court on charges of murder.

Thika doctors successfully remove a 16Kg. tumor from patient’s ovary.

A team of doctors from Central Memorial Hospital successfully removed a huge ovarian cyst weighing 16 kilogramme from a patient that was almost filling her whole abdomen.

46 year-old Fidelis Wanjiku Mulama had been referred to the hospital only for the CT scan to reveal the huge follicular cyst in her abdomen.

Baba Yao sacks all former CECs.

Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu alias ‘Baba Yao’ sacked all the county's 10 CECs and replaced them with new ones. Waititu also appointed his co-principals Rev. David Kariuki Ngari (Gakuyo) and 

John Gathigi Mugwe as Chief Minister and Roads CEC respectively.

Only three women made it to the list.

September 2017.

BIDCO opens new KES. 2Billion detergent Plant in Thika.

BIDCO Africa Ltd. commissioned a KES. 2 billion factory at their Thika Headquarters designed to meet the growing demand for detergent across the East & Central Africa region.

The new state-of-the-art facility, that will initially produce about 3,000 tonnes of washing powdered soap, is part of the company’s KES. 200 billion expansion plan that will see it venture into new product categories as it seeks to grow its revenue base to the billion dollar mark.

In the same forum, the company also launched a new brand of washing detergent, “Msafi Washing Powder”, to add on to their popular brands “Powerboy” and “Gental” detergent soaps.

Agikuyu elders ‘curse’ Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.

A section of the Agikuyu elders on the 26^th perform a traditional curse on Embakasi East MP Babu Owino for what they described as disrespect to his elderly and the women of this country. The elders, drawn from across the Kiambu, converged at Mama Ngina Gardens in Thika Town carrying herbs and a traditional tool kit for performing the rituals.

They spent the entire afternoon conducting the ceremony and praying for a change of heart in the young MP before slaughtering a one-coloured lamb and sacrificing it to the gods.