What began as a calm morning in Kitengela took a violent turn on Wednesday after 10:30 AM when chaos erupted, leading to widespread looting and destruction of property.
According to Kitengela OCS David Shani, the turmoil was sparked by thousands of individuals, described as “goons,” who invaded business premises under the pretense of protesting the controversial Finance Bill.
“The number of goons pretending to be demonstrators against the infamous Finance Bill was overwhelming. They moved around in thousands,” said Shani, emphasizing that police were restrained from using live bullets to manage the unruly crowds.
More than 2,000 individuals stormed a well-known establishment, Kitengela Quivers Lounge, making off with beers, TV screens, and both raw and roasted meat before setting fire to tires outside the building on the Kitengela-Namanga road.
As of Wednesday morning, the lounge’s owners were still assessing their losses and declined to comment on the incident. “We do not wish to talk about it,” remarked one of the senior officials at the lounge.
Other business establishments, such as Eastmatt Supermarket, Naivas Supermarket, and Quick Mart Supermarket in Yukos, had sufficient police presence. Nonetheless, despite these measures and the closure of numerous businesses by their owners, several shops were broken into, and property was stolen.
According to police, they could not be everywhere as the number of looters increased throughout the day.
Many business owners, realizing the inadequacy of police presence, resorted to hiring young men to protect their properties. By 9 AM, most shops outside the central business district had started selling goods through windows as a precaution.
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