A mysterious streak of buglaries has hit the Machakos County Government with no one being held to account.
The latest theft was discovered last week precisely on December 27, 2023, after some yet unknown people carted away 11 Desk Top computers and an equal number of monitors.
The offices closed on December 22,2024. The thieves may have struck on December 23,24,25 or 26. It could have been in broad daylight or at night. There is no CCTV surveillance, exposing the offices great vulnerability.
They gained access to the Ministry of Lands, Environment and Energy without breaking any door. Police say the intruders carefully opened the gate, the main door to the office block and rummaged the offices disconnecting the computers.
What is more curious is that the office is located in the county's most secure and heavily guarded location. The office is straddled across the Machakos County Commissioner's office and the Machakos Land Registry. Further down is the Machakos Deputy County Commissioner's office which stands face to face with the Machakos County National Intelligence Service offices.
More intriguing is the fact that the office was not guarded that night- just like most County offices, so the thieves walked in, stole the computers and most likely loaded them into a vehicle, locked the offices and left.
They were not interested with printers. Neither did they steal disused computers in all the offices, meaning that the thieves knew the offices well enough not to steal useless stuff.
Police have recorded statements from nearly all 30 office users. The offices house the Minister for Lands Mr Nganga wa Ngangani. Investigators are not ruling out an inside job and believe they will crack the riddle.
It is suspected that the thieves targeted to remove critical documents in the computers to deny auditors information that could expose official malfeasance.
In the past, the thieves entered the office of Health Minister Daniel Yumbya by opening doors the same way and carted away computers. Only one door was broken. Police were left pursuing the puzzle of an unusual large footprint left on Yumbya's neat carpet that night.
