Six suspects are in custody in connection with the Tuesday murder of a couple during a robbery incident in Embu County.
The Embu County Commissioner (CC), Abdullahi Galgalo said police are in hot pursuit of a seventh suspect who is still at large.
He said the quick arrest of the suspects, and of those involved in the murder of a Catholic priest earlier, was greatly aided by the technology the government has provided the security agencies with.
Galgalo said the technology was something the public needs to thank the government for as it is helping to ensure those who would harm them are quickly brought to book.
The County Commissioner was addressing this year’s Mashujaa Day rally at Kairuri Stadium in Manyatta Constituency.
He urged parents to counsel their wayward sons and daughters to abandon their criminal ways lest they come to a sad end.
Addressing the same rally, Governor Martin Wambora, said urgent reforms were required in the tea sector, accusing the Kenya Tea Development Agency of corruption and poor governance.
He said it was unacceptable that tea farmers only end up with 16 per cent of their input into their tea crop as their returns while brokers end up with 84 per cent.
Governor Wambora said Chai Trading Company, Majani Insurance Brokers, Tea Machinery and Engineering Company, Greenland Fertiliser Ltd, KTDA Management Services, KTDA Power, Kenya Tea Parkers Ltd and KTDA Foundation, all of them subsidiaries of KTDA, were entities that needed to be investigated to see if they were giving farmers competitive services or were conduits for theft of farmers’ money.
He accused directors of different KTDA affiliated factories had abdicated their role of looking after the farmers’ interests, adding that there was need for reforms in the agency’s electoral system.
The Embu governor said the current weighted vote system, where those with more tea had more votes, had been abused, leading to the enslavement of ordinary farmers.
He added that he will push for a situation where each factory sells its tea from its premises instead of at the Mombasa Tea Auction.
By Steve Gatheru
