Makeji to be a unique  town ending days of violence and carjacking 

Ten years ago, the Makeji area was associated with violent crime as hundreds of the youth sneaked into the Delmonte land to steal pineapples.

The trend made the section dangerous as criminal gangs attacked motorists plying across the Nyeri-Nairobi highway when their vehicles broke down.

As the youth perfected the theft of pineapples, members of the Kandara Residents Association were fighting to repossess their ancestral land they believed was violently taken away by the white settlers from their foreparents.

Three years ago, Delmonte Kenya Limited (DKL)ceded 1,400 acres of land to the Murang’a County Government for use in development along the insecure corridor.

The county government, a year ago allocated Sh200 million for the construction of Kenneth Matina Hospital, as the Ministry of Lands and Housing embarked on putting up  220 units of affordable houses.

The Makeji area will benefit from the EPZ zone on 500 acres by the Ministry of Investment and Trade at Sh500 million, within 1,400 acres donated by the county government.

 In the past,  the area between Kabati and Makeji was crime-prone as the gangs waylaid motorists and robbed them.

Now the violence that featured Makeji and the surrounding areas owing to confrontation with the police is no more as Kenneth Matiba Level Five Hospital is operational with more than 300 patients per day.

Governor Irungu Kang'ata officially opened the multi-million shillings health facility in the Makeji area saying the area is poised to develop into a major town as hundreds of people will be visiting the facility for treatment, others living in the adjacent affordable houses.

Kang’ata said telemedicine technology will be introduced in Murang’a County to enable the residents to access the best treatment through the technology.

“ Makeji area had a bad history which will now change to a great city, where the government will create employment for the youth as well as converting level five hospital to a national referral facility,” said the governor.

 The facility, named after the late Kenneth Matiba,  will decongest Murang’a and Maragua hospitals. In the absence of the facility, the locals sought treatment at Thika Level Five Hospital.

“ There will be a Casualty wing to administer treatment to victims of road accidents,” said the governor.

 In the matters pertaining to development, he said his administration has allocated 500 acres to the Ministry of Investment for the establishment of an EPZ zone.

“ This part of the programme by the national and the county governments is designed to create employment for the hundreds of the youth,” said Kang’ata.

Maurice Muguru says the section between Makeji and Mukeu areas sent shivers down his spine recounting how a gang of robbers attacked him in 1991 his vehicle broke down.

Muguru now in his 70’s recounts the tragedy that befell on him after a gang struck, as he was changing a tyre and accosted him with crude weapons.

“ Am happy that the transformation coming to the locality will erase the bad memories that haunted his family following the injuries inflicted by the gang,” said Muguru, a resident of Juja.

Kandara Resident Association member Joseph Kamau accused the government of ignoring the decision of the parliamentary land committee that recommended the sharing of the land with the parties.

“Now the national and the county governments have parcels of land ceded by the fruit processor, the locals are demanding for their share estimated at 3,330 acres,” said Kamau.

The National Lands Commission (NLC), he said, directed that sharing of the land between the association and the county government should be at the ratio of 70:30.

Other towns that have sprung up in former crime scenes are Kenol, and Kahaini which were used as refuge for gangs.