A number of Jomo Kenyatta University ofAgriculture and Technology (JKUAT) students are in fear of being next targeted by a criminal gang in Juja after their colleague Tim Sydney Aomba was in May stabbed to death while heading to his house near the university. They accuse the institution's alumni living in the town of aiding crime.
Police officers in Juja feel enough has been done to secure the town. Juja OCPD Patrick Manyasi holds that the town does not have an organized ring of criminals that are targeting students, stating that the police have ensured the area remains secure. He also dismissed reports of boda-boda riders ferrying students to thugs lying in wait and later sharing in the loot. The area DCIO in a telephone interview stated that one of the suspects in the Tim Sidney Aomba's stabbing incident is in police custody while they are pursuing his accomplice.
Attacks on students have been linked to outsiders jumping over the fence into the university. Another area dubbed Mathare close to where Tony was attacked is also feared to be unsafe for the students given we established most streets in Juja lack streetlights despite the large population with a beehive of activities running late into the night.
Juja town has affordable housing and a number of JKUAT students after graduating retain their hostels while seeking to be engaged in active employment since the area is only Sh50 away from Nairobi CBD. A number of these former students are seen in the town and have been linked to the upsurge in crime.
Concerns over the possible involvement of former students in theft cases have been raised during past meetings with the institution's administration and the security bosses but the area DCIO and OCPD Mr. Manyasi denied having specific individual students or former students nabbed in connection to robberies or student attacks.
The University's chief security officer Mr. Francis Njeru says there were only a few insecurity incidences reported and most emerged from privately owned hostels outside the university. He says his office has no jurisdiction on the security of areas where students individually seek accommodation.