Police arrested 78 teenagers on Saturday, December 21, for allegedly smoking marijuana at a house party in Kisumu’s Mountain View estate, which had over 100 youths in attendance.

Kisumu Central Sub County Commander Peter Mulai confirmed the arrests, stating that the 68 boys and 10 girls, all minors aged 18 and below, were smoking cannabis when officers arrived at the scene.

“We found the teenagers sitting in groups, smoking bhang in a house, the owners of which are still unidentified,” Mulai said.

Some of the minors fled the scene by scaling the wall as the others were being arrested. The detained teenagers were taken to the Obung’a police post. Authorities acted on a tip-off from a concerned neighbor who noticed the large number of youths arriving at the house and the loud music coming from the venue.

Further investigation revealed that the party had been organized by one of the teenagers living in the house. “We are informed that the minors received an invitation via Instagram from the party organizer, who had anticipated over 200 attendees,” Mulai explained.

However, the organizer was among more than 30 individuals who managed to escape by jumping over the perimeter wall. Mulai added, “We have started investigating the social media platform used to mobilize the youths and are tracking the whereabouts of the party organizers.”

At the police station, all the minors were reprimanded, and their parents were later contacted to pick them up. A junior officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, shared that many parents were shocked to learn their children had been involved in the party.

“Some parents couldn’t believe their children were smoking bhang. Like their kids, we also gave the parents a lecture before releasing the minors into their care,” the officer said.

Mulai confirmed that only three minors remained at the police station due to their failure to provide contact details for their parents. He urged any parents with missing children to contact the police station.

Additionally, Mulai appealed to parents to closely monitor their children during the festive season. He warned that this period could expose children to harmful activities, such as drug abuse, sexually transmitted infections, or even unwanted pregnancies.

“The festive season brings a lot of influence. This is when some children are introduced to drug abuse, contract STIs, or young girls get pregnant. Let’s stay aware of what our children are doing,” Mulai advised.

Two men who were constructing and decorating a wall died after it collapsed on them in Runda, Nairobi. 

Two others were injured and rushed to hospital in critical condition, police said.

Witnesses and police said the group had been hired by a private citizen to paint and decorate a perimeter wall on his residence.

As they went on with the mission, it started to rain forcing the masons to seek shelter at a nearby kiosk.

It was as it rained when the wall collapsed trapping the group in the iron sheets made kiosk.

They were rescued and rushed to a hospital in Kiambu where two were pronounced dead on arrival, police said.

Police later visited the scene as part of investigations into the December 17 tragedy

The Investigations are ongoing led by the DCI Gigiri, Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said.

He said some statements have been recorded and the bodies are lying at County Referral Hospital Kiambu awaiting postmortem.

The owner of the plot has not been traced to establish whether the collapsed perimeter wall had been constructed to the required standard, police said.

There was drama and disarray at PCEA Elim in Kenol, Murang’a County, after the church elders and worshippers locked all entrances to the sanctuary, accusing the reverend of mismanagement and not respecting the leadership.

According to the church members, the reverend has been denying politicians a chance to address the congregants.

Two weeks ago, Reverend Carol Wanyama denied former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and other politicians the pulpit to address the congregation.

Worshippers who had no clue of the happenings attending the 8.00 am english service and 10. 00 am Kikuyu service ready for holy communion were met with shock as nobody was being allowed admission and were forced to worship outside the church.

The agitated church members want Reverend Wanyama transferred to another church, failure to which no service will be conducted until their demands are met.

“Yeye anafaa kushugulika na kutulisha na kiroho, alafu mambo ya development aachie watu waliochaguliwa kufanya hivyo. Sisi tunasema Reverend Carol must go, and there is no debating about that,” Charles Maina, a church member, said.

The reverend opted to attend service at PCEA Waitua Church. She refused to speak to the media, citing the church protocols.

But according to Samuel Nzioki, an elder of the Nguthuru Parish, the decision by the reverend to bar politicians from the pulpit is in line with the church’s policy, which is not to allow politics in church.

“We received information of an incident that occurred, but we have not received further information on the incident, and when information reaches us, we will debate about it and give the way forward. Everything in Nguthuru Parish is going on well, Reverend Carol is busy and working, today she was in PCEA Waitua,” Nzioki said.

“We received information that some politicians visited PCEA Elim some a few weeks ago and they were not given time to talk politics in the church. We can say that we support the minister, the stand of the church is we are not allowing politics in our church,” he added.