MERU, August 25 – Igembe District Commissioner Aggrey Busena called on area residents Monday to surrender illegal firearms following a wave of insecurity in the district.
Busena said illegal guns had ended up in citizen’s hands due to numerous cases of cattle rustling that rocked the area in early 2008.
The DC’s comments follow an attack on a group of Maua Catholic Church choir members Saturday evening along the Mutuati-Laare road.
Speaking at Kiegoi primary school, the DC petitioned residents to report anyone suspected to be in possession of an illegal gun.
“We have a problem here on insecurity and we need everyone’s cooperation. If you have a gun, please surrender it. If you know somebody with an illegal firearm, report him to the police,” appealed Busena.
The administrator said some of the illegal firearms were handed to the residents at the height of cattle rustling.
He however took issue with some miraa (khat) traders, who carry took large sums of money home after transactions, saying they were attracting robbers.
Busena advised the traders to bank the money instead.
About ten people have been shot dead by gangsters in Igembe district in the past three months.
Meanwhile, a 42-year old man committed suicide on Sunday at Igembe’s Naathu village, apparently due to poverty.
The body of the father of seven was found dangling in the kitchen following a nightlong search.
The man whose name was not immediately released is said to have woken up at around midnight and told his wife that he was going to the toilet.
It is then that he took a rope that was used to tether sheep and hung himself.
The man’s distraught wife searched for him in the toilet and the compound in vain, only to find him dangling in the kitchen on Monday morning.
The wife said the man had always complained of economic hardship and stated that that could have motivated him to take his life.
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