THIKA: 2017 Year in Review (PART II).

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

August 2017.

Police gun down two of Nairobi’s most wanted criminals in Witeithie.

Police gun down two of the most dreaded hardcore criminals in Nairobi and Kiambu counties after a 2-hour gun drama on Sunday 20^th.

The gun chase, police ended the life of Nairobi’s deadliest gangster popularly known as “Mwani Sparta” (husband to Nairobi’s prettiest thug Clare Mwaniki aka “Clare Adi Vybz”) and his accomplish “Willis”, a famous gangster in Kayole but not before Willies shot and injured a civilian as he tried to hide inside a house.

Gatuanyaga MCA-Elect in hideout, claims his life is in danger.

On 13^th August, Gatuanyaga MCA-Elect Joseph Kahira Wambui reported that his life was in danger consequently forcing him to live in hideouts.

Kahira said that his ordeal started on the night of Tuesday the 8^thimmediately after Kenyans went to the ballot to vote for their preferred candidates. He added that unknown men had been trailing him in several vehicles at his home in Gatuanyaga at night, raising fears that they are out to no good.

The 26-year beat all odds to win the Gatuanyaga Ward seat on a Maendeleo Chap Chap Party ticket with 4 769 votes (49.07%) ahead of Jubilee’s Cecilia Wamaitha Mwangi who got 3 589 votes (36.93%).

Eng. Wainaina wins the Thika seat on an independent ticket.

Independent candidate Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle beat all odds to clinch the Thika Town Parliamentary seat against a very strong Jubilee wave in the Mt. Kenya Region.

With 96.09% of the results transmitted, Wainaina had garnered 58 286 votes (52.57%) against Alice’s 52 115 votes (47.00%). According to the provisional results seen by our press team, the margin was poised to increase by about 7,000 votes, completely locking out the incumbent from any chances of retaining her seat.

In his brief victory speech, Wainaina highlighted his desire work with all the leaders and people of Thika regardless of their previous stand in the just concluded elections  — and with it, the prospect of creating jobs through investment.

July 2017

Jodan college student stab colleague to death.

An afternoon of merry-making ended tragically at Mukiriti Market after a male student stabbed and killed his colleague over unclear circumstances on Wednesday.

19 year-old Vincent Musyoka Kimanthi, an accounting and finance student at Jodan College of Technology, is said to have picked a quarrel with 22 year-old Kennedy Mwanthi Mbithuka (the deceased), who until his demise was a student at Kilimambogo Plant Operators Training College.

The suspect is said to have drawn a kitchen knife and stabbed him on the chest. The deceased was rushed to Thika Nursing Home Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

One man seriously injured as Raila’s convoy is stoned in Thika.

NASA presidential flagbearer Raila Amollo Odinga was forced to cut short a speech on the 13^th in Thika Town after angry youths jeered and pelted his convoy with stones.

Trouble began when a section of youth donned in Jubilee Party T-Shirts and caps started shouting down the opposition chief as he was addressing the crowd. Raila’s address was interrupted several times and efforts to calm the youths down bore no fruit.

One person was reported to have been seriously injured as the fight between the youth and Raila security team ensued and was rushed to Thika Level 5 Hospital and later transferred to a Nairobi hospital.

(Related story: THIKA: 2017 Year in Review (PART I).

7 Kiambu MCAs defect to NASA ahead of Raila’s visit to the county.

13 Jubilee Party politicians from Kiambu County, 7 among them sitting MCAs at the current assembly have defected to the National Super Alliance (NASA).

The group was received by NASA leader Raila Odinga received the delegation at ODM offices in Nairobi on 3^rd July ahead of NASA’s tour to the county.

Among the MCAs who defected were drawn from Thika, Juja, Kiambu and Limuru who included Mr. George Gitau (Juja) and Ms. Mary Muigai who was running for Limuru Central Ward on an ODM ticket as read out by Mr. Michael Rubia who was NASA’s coordinator in Central Kenya.

June 2017.

Chania High School Alumni donate KEs. 1.5 million e-learning centre.

Chania Boys’ High School e-learning centre received computers and digital material worth KEs. 1.5 million donated by The Thika Alumni Trust (TTAT), ex-students of M P Shah Central High School (now Chania Boys’ and Girls’ High schools).

Harpal Punia said that he plus other alumni of the school living in the United Kingdom (UK), joined hands to form TTAT, a charitable organisation aimed at giving back to their former schools.

Jubilee campaign billboards spark outrage in Thika.

The omission of Kiambu Senator Paul Kimani Wamatangi on the Jubilee Party advertisement billboards sparked outrage amongst his supporters who claimed that their candidate was being sidelined by his colleagues in ‘United 4 Kiambu’ (U4K).

Giant billboards strategically mounted at various spots around Thika Town Constituency bore the portraits of what seemed to be the official Jubilee Party line-up fronted to the electorate for the August 8 General Elections.

In the poster Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu alia ‘Baba Yao’ was being fronted as the party’s gubernatorial choice with Gathoni Wamuchomba and MP Alice Ng’ang’a as the Kiambu Women Representative and Thika Town MP respectively.

Others were Andrew Ndirangu (Township Ward), Dunson Mburu (Hospital Ward), Raphael Chege (Kamenu Ward), Cecilia Wamaitha (Gatuanyaga Ward) and Joakim Mwangi (Ngoliba Ward). There was no portrait of any senatorial candidate in what was presumed by Wamatangi’s supporters as a silent rejection in favour of the independent candidate and Ngewa MCA Karungo Wa Thang’wa, who they said had been in the U4K team before.

Drama as EACC officers arrest traffic cops near Witeithie.

There was pandemonium next to the Witeithie Estate Bridge along the busy Thika-Nairobi Superhighway on the 22^nd as EACC detectives arrested six traffic police officers for allegedly taking bribes. The officers, believed to be from Thika Police Station, put up a spirited fight to avoid arrest in the 9am incident.

According to eyewitnesses, five officers including, one of them a female, were first apprehended by the anti-corruption officers but some quick response from their colleagues team from Thika managed  to secure the escape of two of them  who included the female cop. Another female police managed to escape in the ensuing confusion that attracted local residents at the scene.

Two of those who escaped left behind their caps and badges in the incident.

Poll - “Jungle” poised to easily win the Thika seat.

An opinion poll conducted by the Thika Town Today showed that Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle would easily beat incumbent Alice Wambui Ng’ang’a.

The outcome of the poll, which surveyed 903 registered voters across the constituency (both online and offline), showed that Eng. Wainaina would garner 67% votes compared to the MP’s 33%.  

The survey conducted between May 21^st and June 11^th 2017 missed the name of the third candidate in the race, George Muritu Gathecha, as it commenced before he had made it public that he was in the race.

May 2017.

Glaring Legal Tussle Looms As Two Men Face ‘Baba Yao’ Over Encroachment Of Land.

Two Thika businessmen sued Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu and his Thika Town counterpart Alice Wambui Ng’ang’a for what they referred to encroaching on their parcel of land near the Blue post bridge in Thika.

Displaying title deeds and other legal documents to prove ownership, Duncan Macharia and Njiri Kariuki said that the section of land that the exit road off Haile Selassie Rd. to Thika Superhighway was actually deep inside their land and was not part of the riparian reserve as claimed by the two legislators.

Njiri said that all documents related to this piece had been verified with Survey of Kenya Headquarters in Nairobi and it was evident that the road had encroached more than three-quarters of the affected parcel.

Thika Residents Warned of Deadly Disease Outbreak.

The department of health in Thika Sub-County on the 9^th issued a stern warning to the members of public to be cautious of a potentially fatal disease outbreak in the area after several people were brought to the Thika Level 5 Hospital with what is suspected to be an anthrax attack.

Speaking to the press at the Thika Level 5 Hospital, medical superintendent Dr. Andrew Jacob Toro confirmed that the facility had already admitted four cases who were now under surveillance after developing symptoms related to the disease.

He added that the county government (of Kiambu) had dispatched public health and veterinary officers to the region so as to establish its source as well take precaution measures to curb any spread of the disease to other areas .

A surveillance team dispatched to the slaughterhouse the previous day ordered its closure pending further investigation.

Panic as an Explosive Device is Found in a Thika Church

Panic and fear engulfed staff and guests of a Thika church after an explosive device was discovered abandoned within the compound on 2^nd May.

The incident forced normal operations at The Christian Church International in Makongeni Thika to come to a halt on Tuesday morning. Sand operators in the neighbourhood too had to scamper for safety when word went round that there was a bomb in the church.

It is said that one of the staff stumbled on a suspicious device and alerted his colleagues who innocently picked it and started questioning each other what it might be.

They alerted Makongeni police who came and confirmed that it was an improvised explosive device (IED) and in a short while, bomb experts from Thika KDF Barracks came and removed it from the compound before safely detonating it.