Embu county commissioner Esther Maina has condemned rampant incidents of burning suspects alive.
She said those doing so will be prosecuted. Maina and Manyatta MP John Muchiri expressed anger at residents whom they say have formed a habit of setting suspects on fire.
They asked residents to be handing over suspects to the police who will investigate. Maina said lately, residents arrest suspects and burn them. “I am warning you, as the head of the county security committee, that it is wrong to set suspects ablaze and you risk being arrested and charged,” Maina said.
She warned against the lynching of suspects during the Christmas holidays and asked residents to cooperate with their Nyumba Kumi administrators to stop crime.
Residents have criticised the rise in crime, going by the number of bodies found dumped and police investigations giving no answers.
On November 13, the body of a security guard who went missing was found in the Embu sewage treatment plant. Dennis Bundi, 19, worked with the Bentel Security Company in Embu town.
Residents found his body in the plant in the Old Stadium area in the morning. Embu West police boss Francis Sang said they launched investigations to establish whether the man committed suicide or was murdered.
“The guard is said to have left the house for a neighbouring shop to buy a scratch card but did not return,” he said. “Relatives reported him missing at Embu police station, saying he may have been arrested by policemen on patrol for an unknown reason.”
The police boss said the body did not have physical injuries.
It was taken to the morgue at Embu Level Five Teaching and Referral Hospital. Maina added that taxi crews are at the forefront in lynching and setting suspects ablaze.
The two, Maina and Muchiri, spoke at Embu Stadium on Tuesday during Jamhuri Day celebrations. Governor Martin Wambora, Deputy Governor David Kariuki and Woman Representative Jane Wanjuki were present.
Some residents have defended the act of burning suspects, saying handing them over to the police is useless as they are soon released.
On September 17, Spring Valley Estate residents lynched a suspect who allegedly broke into a kiosk and stole potatoes, tomatoes and pineapples. The residents beat him up before setting him ablaze.
In a separate incident on November 24, students of the University of Embu set ablaze a boda boda operator.
They accused the man of being a member of a gang that steals laptops and mobile phones from students.
They tried to burn him before police rescued him.
On August 24, a burglar was burnt beyond recognition by residents after he broke into a grocery shop in Dallas village, Embu West, at around 2am.
In 2015, Mbeere South police boss Mathew Ekakoro said illicit brew and mob action are the top crimes in Embu.
A boda boda rider and his passenger were killed by a gang in Mwanyari village, Mbeere South.
A suspect alleged to have been in the gang was lynched by the residents and three houses believed to belong to other suspects torched.