Tharakanithi: Police Commander and Ocs transferred over shooting of boda boda chair
Tharaka-Nithi County Police Commander Donatha Kiplagat and Chuka OCS Francisca Mbithe have been transferred following three days of demonstrations occasioned by the shooting of the County Boda Boda Association chairman Willis Mugambi on Saturday, Eastern Regional police boss Rono Bunei has confirmed.
It all started in Chuka town in Tharaka Nithi on Saturday after angry residents closed the Meru-Nairobi Highway using stones and a casket containing the body of Daniel Mutembei.
The residents of Nkwego village were demanding the arrest of Mutembei’s killers.
Mutembei was reportedly murdered last month by five people who are known to the residents. The residents, among them Chuka town boda boda operators, demanded the arrest of the killers.
It was while police dispersed these demonstrators that the association chairperson was shot dead.
Mugambi was shot in the chest at around 7pm, and died at the scene, an incident that spurred nightlong running battles between police and boda boda operators while the body remained at the scene for hours.
The stalemate caused a huge traffic jam, inconveniencing travelling along the road.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of police officers in anti-riot gear unblocked the highway to allow movement of and protect commuters.
In a statement shared on his social media pages on Saturday evening, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said he had dispatched investigators to investigate the two killings.
