Just like in many parts of Kenya, Nyumba Kumi has not worked and will not work if the current trend continues.
Most people in Nakuru don’t have time to meet their neighbours as they are too busy trying to make ends meet whereas others may consider the act of going to meet the person living next door as nosing around.
Others simply love their solitude and the mere act of trying to know who your neighbours are and their occupation may seem a bit much.
However, Joseph Kaguthi who is in charge of a committee formed by the government to spearhead the initiative may beg to differ.
It is through this mentality that this project which is said to work perfectly in Rwanda may fail to succeed in Nakuru.
It is through this mentally and rigidity that people are being mugged and robbed in their houses without their immediate neighbours noticing.
A case in point is where a young lady who was hanging her clothes on the clothes line at night at Zachayos area in the outskirts of Nakuru at around 11 pm on Sunday, January 31, was robbed off all her electronics and raped without the neighbours noticing that anything was amiss.
This would have been avoided had the gate been locked from inside by one of the neighbours due to the security factor considering that this is a plot where every tenant has a key to the main gate that can only be opened using the key from outside.
Again, most people in Nakuru are not ready to embrace community policing especially when they are told that they have to contribute a certain amount of money.
This is also the case when tenants are asked to contribute the money to pay the watchman where they will strongly argue that this is the landlord’s job.
The landlord may on the other hand say it is the tenant’s problem as they are the ones who need the security, and they will be the ones to suffer should there property be stolen.
If community policing was embraced in Nakuru, incidents such as people being stabbed near estates by robbers trying to steal their property would most definitely decrease.
For these two initiatives to be successful, Nakuru people need to change their mindset of minding their own business to being their brothers keepers.
They also need to embrace this initiative fully and also coming up with similar initiatives that may help the community at large.