Irate residents halt county’s plan to erect business stalls on cemetery land.
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| A section of the old Thika Cemetery that is in danger of grabbers. |
The residents, most of whom
reside in the neighbouring Ziwani, Ofafa, jamuhuri and Starehe estate termed
the move as irresponsible and disrespectful to the dead as some of their kin
had been buried there.
“This is a ploy to grab this
space pretending that they are fencing the place. The truth is that some of our
leaders have already shared this place and want to put up business stall to
take advantage of the high students’ traffic in this part of the road,”
explained one of the protestors.
John Mwangi Njuguna, who is the
Personal Assistant to Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina warned that legislators’
office will never allow any grabbing of land to happen within their jurisdiction
as they watched.
He wondered why the new
developments were being done behind the people’s backs if at all they were for
the public good.
“If at all the county government
(of Kiambu) means well, why are they doing these things at night? Why can’t
they come out in the open and explain to the stakeholders what they are doing?
We cannot have this and we will not allow them to grab any of these spaces
meant for the public,” he warned.
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| A county caterpillar clearing the land in preparation for the building of business stalls along the face of the old Thika cemetery. |
Responding to these allegations,
Thika Ward Administrator Ephraim Njihi defended the county government’s actions
saying that they decided to fence the area and clear the bushes that had overgrew
within the abandoned cemetery as a way to curb the insecurity that had dogged
that area.
He added that they had allowed
the erection of business stalls on the newly built wall for students and youth
to do business there.
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