Fifty-two days after a safe box containing title deeds belonging to Imbirikani Group Ranch members was stolen from a police station in broad daylight, the vital documents are yet to be found.
So far, five officials implicated in the theft have been profiled for prosecution and a file forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) as the Kajiado South police boss is sucked into the matter.
The documents were stolen on August 24 when hundreds of armed Morans singing dirges from atop several vehicles snaked into Kimana Police Station.
The crowd menacingly headed to the office of the Officer Commanding the Station Salmon Kivuva, demanding they be given their title deeds.
In a 10-minute gangster raid, despite the police attempts to repulse them, the gang made away with the metallic safe box containing title deeds, receipts, allotment letters and other crucial documents belonging to Imbirikani Group Ranch.
The safe box had been taken by police from Paran Resort in Kimana where the group ranch has an office.
Police had gone for the safe box after intelligence sources indicated a splinter camp of the group ranch was planning to raid the hotel and burn it together with the ranch office. They were also said to have targeted the ranch motor vehicle
Police together with some administration officers, therefore, had taken the safe for safekeeping at the nearby police station. It was a decision reached after a sub-security committee meeting.
“It was a collective decision reached in a sub-county police security meeting to keep the safe box at the police station,” said Mr David Maina, Sub-County Police commander in a previous interview.
In several instances, the schemers of the police raid had evaded the security apparatus dragnet to recover the safe box.
Security agents suspect the safe box got its way to an undisclosed location in Nairobi.
On Friday, David Maina, Kajiado South sub-County Police Commander told the Nation that the whereabouts of the title deeds had not been established but charges had been preferred against leaders of a splinter group.
“Today is my last day in Loitok tok as sub-county police boss, I have been transferred to Nairobi. However, I can confirm that the file preferring charges to five leaders has been forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODDP) for directions,” Said Maina.
The five leaders will face charges of robbery with violence and creating disturbance in a police station among other charges, according to the charge sheet.
Though Mr Maina, who had served the area for less than two years as police boss, evaded responding to the issue of his transfer, a senior police officer privy with the matter told the Nation in confidence that his boss was a victim of circumstances surrounding the loss of the title deeds.
“Some powerful people implicated in the theft of the title deeds from a police station have pulled strings to have him transferred in a hurriedly,” he said
Long-serving Chairman Daniel Metui said sharp division had emerged among members and the security agencies to stamp their authority on suspects.
“The matter is now with ODDP. We want the wheel of justice to run indiscriminately. Our members are growing impatient,” said Metui.
This daring raid of the police station and the stealing of at least 400 title deeds is the culmination of a six-month power struggle at the 430,000-acre Imbirikani Group Ranch, that straddles the Kajiado- Makueni-Taita Taveta borderline.
The group has over 4,200 members, most of whom have been given title deeds after the County Government of Kajiado and the Ministry of Lands jointly kicked off the sub-division and issuance of title deeds.
Source link : https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/kajiado/five-to-face-charges-as-search-continues-for-missing-kajiado-title-deeds-4793562
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-13 20:40:47
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.