Wathe Nzau's lorry set alight in night attack on Mwingi home

A lorry belonging to Kitui deputy Governor Wathe Nzau has been set ablaze by unknown arsonists in Mwingi town.

The arsonists sneaked into Dr Nzau’s residence around 2:30am Friday and doused the lorry’s rear tyres with petrol before setting it alight. 

According to the deputy governor who was not in the house when the incident happened, the burning truck attracted the attention of night guards from the adjacent St Joseph’s Mwingi Boys Seminary School who rushed to the scene.

The guards banged Dr Wathe’s gates and shouted for help to alert his family and neighbours who woke up to put out the flames.

The responders managed to save the lorry before the fire spread to the entire body but its rear tires were completely destroyed.

Dr Wathe told journalists that he has endured numerous threats from unknown people ever since Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu banned charcoal burning and trade within the county in March.

“Since March, we’ve been parking this lorry at the police station after receiving numerous threats. We stopped only recently after the threats stopped,” he said at the scene, adding the threats were connected to charcoal cartels unhappy with the ban.

He said he stopped parking the lorry at the Mwingi Police Station, which is a kilometre from his home, after assessing the situation and hoping it was safe at his compound. 

Dr Wathe, who has been at the forefront of enforcing Mrs Ngilu’s charcoal ban, said the arson attack will not stop him and other county government officers from conserving the environment.

The arson is also seen as a retaliatory attack to the March incident where a charcoal truck was burnt by youths at Kanyonyoo market along the Thika-Garissa highway.

Mwingi central OCPD John Nyamu said police had launched investigations into the incident but no arrests had been made by Friday morning.