10 people arrested in Nakuru over illegal stalls on highway

More than 10 people were arrested on Sunday in Nakuru Town after they were found putting up illegal structures along the highway.

Some of the structures were put up at night and the workers continued constructing more during the day. But they were demolished.

The stalls were to be used by a group of traders within Nakuru Town.

RAID

At midday, police officers raided the site at a footbridge along the Nakuru-Nairobi Highway and arrested people who were still constructing the stalls and those who had been allocated the completed ones.

Those arrested claimed that an MCA had allocated the area to them.

Nakuru Deputy OCPD Daniel Kitavi, who led officers in demolishing the structures, said the stalls had been built without the knowledge of the county planning department.

Police took away the construction materials.

Mr Kitavi said the action was followed by an alarm raised from the county government about illegal structures that had been erected in the area without involvement of the county planning department.

ARREST

“There were reports that got to the governor’s office about illegal structures that had been erected at the place, which the town planning department was not aware of and so the governor sent his team of law enforcers to stop it,” he said.

Mr Kitavi said that when the county government enforcement officers arrived at the site, the builders resisted arrest and orders to stop construction, prompting the officials to call for reinforcement from the police.

“An MCA who is reported to be behind the illegal allocation fled before we arrived but police arrested those who were found building the stalls and those who had been allocated,” Mr Kitavi said.

Police are still looking for the MCA who has since gone into hiding.