Police officers in Ndaragwa share house with suspects
By David Macharia, July 16, 2025Residents of Pesi in Aberdare sub-county of Nyandarua want the government to put up a decent police post to boost the morale of officers serving in the current one.
The police post located at the Pesi trading centre is housed in an old colonial settler timber house since it was established to improve security in the area over 10 years ago.
The officers share the building with suspects.
“We requested for this police post because there was rampant insecurity in the forested section between the Nyahururu-Nyeri highway and Pesi village,” the Pesi community chairman, Francis Ngana Gathurai, said.
“People used to be robbed as they travelled the 5km murram road to this place.”
But as the community enjoys a secure environment, the police officers stationed at the police post operate in an environment that is not friendly.
They use the 1942 colonial building as their residential house, report office and cell for holding suspects.
Jane Njeri, who is a trader at the trading centre, said the challenge comes when male and female suspects are arrested because the house lacks a cell room to separate the genders.
“The officers are forced to hand the female suspects to some families in the town for the night before they are taken to Ndaragwa or Shamata police stations,” Gathurai said.
The community chairman said the colonial building is not fit for human occupation because its roof is leaking and parts of the building are falling apart due to age.
The police officers occupying the building said it denies them privacy because the suspects held in one of the rooms eavesdrop on conversations between the officers and their families.
The future of the police post is also not guaranteed as the Nyandarua County government is demanding its relocation so that the devolved unit can put up modern buildings for Pesi Vocational Training Centre, who are the owners of the compound.
Already, the county government has put up a workshop modern building, and it is in the process of completing a modern toilet.
“The conflict between the police post and the polytechnic can be solved by relocating the post to a site that was set aside when people were being settled by the Pesi Settlement Scheme.
The land set aside is enough for a police station,” said John Maina, a resident of Pesi town.