Zimmerman Ward Member of the County Assembly (MCA) Stephen Kimani Mugo has been implicated in a vicious modern kiosks ownership dispute located in Roysambu, in Nairobi’s Kasarani area.
This comes amid claims that members of the outlawed Mungiki sect have been unleashed to intimidate traders as the ownership tussle rages on.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) based in Kasarani have since questioned 11 people including the MCA in connection with the matter reported on April 29.
According to preliminary police findings, the complainants, Justus Gitahiga and Benson Irungu, accuse the MCA and his personal assistant of orchestrating a scheme to dispossess them a total of six stalls which they claim legally belong to them.
They accused the local leader of using proxies to demanded rent from the tenants claiming they are the bonafide owners of the stalls beginning last month.
The disputed modern kiosks were constructed in 2018 and are located along Kamiti Road, opposite Quickmart Supermarket in Roysambu.
Mugo was grilled by the DCI and recorded statements at Kasarani Police Station on Monday May 12, 2025.
Two aggrieved persons, have also petitioned the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) Chief Executive Officer Mohamud Abdi to investigate the Zimmerman MCA against alleged abuse of office and intimidation through a petition dated May 15, 2025 which was received at Integrity Centre on May 16, 2025.
“We have been collecting rent from our stalls peacefully and without interruption until April 2025 when a third party started claiming the ownership of the stalls.
In April 2025, John Waweru Wanjiru (herein referred to as the personal assistant to the MCA) visited the subject stalls claiming he had not received rent from our tenants and demanded that the tenants pay rent to him using Mpesa Paybill No. 4123184.”
The petition received by EACC on May 16, 2025 and signed by both Githaiga and Irungu reads in part.
They also told the EACC that Mugo’s personal assistant said his boss owns all the stalls in Zimmerman.
Members of the proscribed Mungiki sect are said to have been mobilised and deployed during the botched illegal takeover attempt.
“On or about May 9, 2025, in an act of unbridled impunity, they dispatched armed goons to the stalls in an attempt to ouster us from the stalls in a bid to unlawfully take over ownership and control of the stalls.”
There was no immediate comment from the MCA.
