Hardly a week after the former president of Kenya Mwai Emilio Kibaki was laid to rest at his village, a group of thieves steal components of transformer stationed outside Kibaki’s residence. The reports say the thieves happened to have vandalized the electricity 3 days after his burial. The transformer poles are set up 50 meters away from the President’s home.
On Tuesday, May 3rd, the burglars destroyed the transformer at around 11 pm in the night and took out the key components of the transformer. The police suspect that the vandalism lasted about an hour before the thieves fled, leaving at least 400 homes in Kanyange village and Kibaki’s residence in pitch darkness.
It however remains a mystery as to how the thieves managed to conduct the burglary near Kibaki’s residence and yet the homestead and its environs were completely guarded by the elite Reece squad officers, a special GSU squad trained abroad to protect VIPs and valuable properties. Police believe that a tea plantation nearby Kibaki’s homestead was used to harbor the thieves in hiding.
At the scene of the crime, an umbrella was recovered by police, and they tend to believe that the thieves were prepared for several eventualities including the rains. Kenya Power distribution engineer in Othaya, Benjamin Onsomo confirmed that electricity was cut out in the area at around 11 pm on Tuesday, May 3rd.
“We had to reconnect the affected residences to a feeder line at Othaya Sub-Station, which serves the town center and its environs. As a result, power was restored, though temporarily, the following day (Wednesday, May 4th) at around 11 am,” said Onsomo.
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He said that Kenya Power could not immediately establish why the village had a blackout as no official report had been made to them when the incident occurred.
“After the vandalism which wasn’t brought to our attention immediately, we tried to supply power to the transformer, but the line couldn’t hold. That’s when we dispatched a team to the scene, and we were shocked to learn that the transformer had been vandalized,” he said.
A report was filed by KPLC at the nearest police station and the process of replacing the stolen transformer began. Onsomo said that this had been the first reported incident of transformer vandalism in Kanyange village, and other reports usually came from Mukurweini town.
“The thieves usually target the transformer components, particularly the copper inside the device.”
Onsomo recounted that more than 50 Kilograms worth of copper were stolen from the transformer which costs at least KSHs. 500,000. Investigations are still underway as to why the thieves targeted the transformer and yet the scrap metal business has been outlawed in the country.
The thieves are anticipated to sell the copper components to scrap metal dealers who operate in illegal arrangements. Villagers say that the thieves are likely to have taken advantage of the heavy rains that graced the village on Tuesday night. As of now, it is unclear who the suspects are.