Suspects nabbed after robbery in former CS Rotich’s home
By Wycliff Kipsang
@PeopleDailyKe
Police in Uasin Gishu county yesterday arrested four suspects in connection to Monday night raid at the home of former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich in Kaptich village.
Suspects ransacked the house for over 30 minutes before robbing the parents of the former CS of cash and mobile phones.
Thugs then escaped after members of the public raised the alarm on hearing commotion at the home. However, they were yesterday morning tracked down and arrested. Detectives said one of the suspects was being sought in connection with another robbery that took place at the residence of Rotich at Elgon View two years ago.
Kaptagat location chief, Moses Kiplagat, reported that at around 7pm, five men raided the residence of Rotich Matui, 82, and his wife Tereki Rotich.
Three of the gangsters were driving a car while two of their colleagues were on a motorcycle.
The couple’s son, Moses Rotich, said he was outside the compound when the robbers, wearing masks and surgical gloves, stormed the house.
“They took all our mobile phones, switched them off and ordered us to open all the doors,” he said.
As three of them ransacked the house, two armed robbers kept guard. They then left after 30 minutes having robbed Rotich’s mother of Sh1,500.
They then drove away in a silver Mercedes Benz, whose registration number was not captured, and a blue motorcycle.
Yesterday morning, a team of detectives from the Uasin Gishu Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), acting on a tip off, managed to intercept the vehicle, Mercedes Benz registration number KCR 221L, along the Old Nairobi road in Eldoret.
The detectives arrested all the four occupants who have been identified as Cosmus Kemei, 28, Benson Okila, 37, Joseph Kipkurui Kosgei, 27, and Phanuel Maindu Tiriki, 36.
The officers also recovered an Austrian-made Glock Ges pistol loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition, five mobile phones, four black facemasks, two pairs of gloves, four jackets, two caps, a hut, balaclava, two hammers, a rope, and a machete.
The recovered pistol belongs to Okila but by yesterday detectives were yet to establish whether he illegally bought it or had hired it from some robbers.
“He is not a licenced firearm holder and is illegally in possession of the firearm. It will be subjected to ballistic examination to establish if it had been used in committing other robberies within the area and its environs,” a senior detective told People Daily.
Police also said they had established that the vehicle belonged to Tiriki who is also suspected to be involved fraud and fake currencies.
During the 2017 Jubilee Party campaigns, Okila is said to have been close to former CS Rotich and was one of the suppliers of the public address systems.
In 2020, a robbery was committed at the residence of Rotich at Elgon View estate in Eldoret where they stole a safe. Some suspects were arrested and later two of them were charged in court in Eldoret.
Upon interrogation, the accused persons revealed that they had been directed by Okila who was well conversant with the home. “Since then, detectives have been looking for him but he disappeared,” a police source said.
Police said he suspected that Rotich had kept a lot of cash in the safe, which had been kept in the house.
Detectives said the car was fixed with a car track device that had already shown how the gang moved up to the Rotich’s that night.
The former CS however yesterday downplayed the attack saying it was normal.
“This was just a normal criminal incident. It can happen to anybody. I had just come back from Nairobi to be informed that my parents rural home had been raided,” Rotich said.
In August 2018, a joint report by two parliamentary committees submitted to the parliament called for Rotich and fellow CS Adan Mohammed to be investigated over the way they handled sugar imports.
On 22 July 2019, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji ordered for the arrest and prosecution of Rotich and others over allegations of corruption related to the construction of Kimwarer and Arror dams in Elgeyo Marakwet county.
Prior to joining the Ministry of Finance, Mr Rotich worked at the Central Bank of Kenya for twelve years.
