A very eventful Sunday when Sifuna came calling, and put Kitengela back in news saddle
Opinion
By
Peter Kimani
| Feb 20, 2026
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has a wicked sense of humour, even though he seldom smiles. He says police had not been notified early enough that the Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and his cronies were going to make a “wave” in the Kitengela township last Sunday.
In the same breath, the police who hadn’t received notification about the Sifuna-led brigade were able to promptly conduct a census to determine that the said rally was dominated by hired crowds from the nearby counties of Machakos and Nairobi.
Consequently, Murkomen posed, wagging a finger and veins jutting from his forehead, the man really needs to relax. Why would anyone bother ferrying goons instead of addressing them wherever they live? I don’t know what would be the basis of such twisted logic.
After all, the economy thrives when people travel, which is what I was doing when I experienced the “Sifuna wave,” after making the ominous error of getting on the road at the same time as the Nairobi senator’s scheduled rally in Kitengela town.
That was before police lobbed tear gas canisters on largely peaceful crowds, perhaps to disperse them early enough to ensure the hired crowds safely retreated to their home counties. Consequently, I had to navigate through the backroads of Kitengela, wading through narrow thoroughfares until I was well past the assembly point.
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Cutting through the counties of Machakos and Nairobi, destined for Kiambu County, a reckless truck rammed into the rib of my car, and the driver attempted to flee. It turned out he was dodging from another lane where he had rammed into the rear of another car.
It took a while before police officers on patrol arrived to record the details, which included a detour to Ruai Police Station, where Police Constable Irungu provided prompt assistance, as the reckless young truck driver wailed his penitence.
A new day had dawned by the time I drove through the Kitengela township, the debris on the road being the outward sign that police had come to town, leaving the “Sifuna wave,” invisible but ominous, floating through the air.