Scap metal vendors, Jua Kali artisans and motor garages have been urged to work with police officers to help nab those behind railway vandalism in Nakuru county.
Joseph Waithaka, an assistant yard master at the Kenya Railway Cooperation Nakuru branch on Monday told reporters that the suspects were making it difficult for the sector, which has always provided alternative means of transport for several decades.
“Who said that the sector has collapsed so that anybody can walk to a railway line, dismantle the rail and walk away as if nobody cares?” he posed.
He cited the modern railway system that is a success between Nairobi and Syokimau as prove enough that the system of transport was still under close monitoring, saying that with the emergence of county governments, very soon, things will resume their normalcy.
“You can imagine a scenario where the Nakuru county government finds investors ready to improve on the different railway lines across the county only to find some sections destroyed due to vandalism,” he said.
He accused organised scrape metal cartels of using boys from the neighbouring slums to facilitate vandalism, at a fee.
“The problem is, you arrest a person on the ground only for the mastermind to employ other people and the cycle continues,” Waithaka noted.
The officer further revealed that a crackdown on scrape metal vendors and Jua Kali sheds believed to be involved in the rail bar trade will soon be launched.