In the wee hours of October 22, as dairy farmers were delivering milk to a collection centre, a gang of thieves was emptying the technical room of a Presbyterian church in Mukurweini, Nyeri County.
During the incident, thieves packed musical instruments and electronics into a waiting vehicle outside the church and took off.
Milk farmers who witnessed the incident on their way to sell milk, thought the church had contracted workers to move some stuff.
It was only later that evening that the villagers learnt that a theft incident had taken place after church officials of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa Giathugu parish reported missing items to the police.
A week later, a similar theft incident was reported to the police at the PCEA Kihate parish.
At Kihate, the robbers got into the premises of the church using master keys in the dead of the night and stole property worth Sh600,000.
A church member who sought anonymity, because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said that the locals did not hear any noises or notice any unusual activities, even though a watchman guards the building.
“We were informed about the theft the following morning by our caretaker who had come to clean the church in preparation for Sunday service,” he said.
He suspected that the watchman might have abandoned his duty and fallen asleep overnight at his home which is not far from the church.
In the incident, the thieves found the church’s main door unlocked and went on to access its vestry using a master key.
In the vestry, they broke into a safe which had church valuables amongst them musical instruments and electronics.
The items were part of a donation made to the church by a politician affiliated to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
This was not the first time that the church has been robbed. Early this year, the congregation lost a television screen to theft.
According to the church member, the Presbyterian churches are an easy target in the area because of the valuable items they own.
“After the robbery, we found a pile of chairs which were stacked together and used as a ladder to reach the mounted television but luckily they did not manage to remove it,” he said.
In a different church, PCEA Ichamara parish lost goods worth Sh200,000.
The report made to the police on September 25, shows that the thieves stole a full drum set, a keyboard, a cooking stove, and a television set.
They accessed the building, which is just 300 metres away from Ichamara Police Post, by cutting a barbed wire fence before breaking into the church’s main hall where the goods were stored.
A CCTV camera mounted at the premises was also stolen during the night incident.
The three parishes are among five Presbyterian churches reporting a theft incident in the last two months in Mukurweini constituency.
Speaking to Nation, Reverend Sammy Kithinji said that the church suspects that the robberies are being conducted by the same gang which is selling the items to nightclub deejays.
While supporting his claims, he said the thieves always ensure that they steal a complete set of musical instruments or live-streaming electronic devices.
“This is because they will not earn much profit by reselling single items from a set whose market price is around Sh200,000,” says Mr Kithinji.
A musical set contains speakers, amplifiers, mixers, equalizers, a laptop and a piano.
According to him, in most PCEA parishes in the area, it is only the chairman and caretaker who have copies of keys to the church.
This is because the caretaker is mandated to ensure that the church grounds are always clean while the chairman is part of the administration.
“In churches with no caretakers, the chairmen are allowed to delegate the cleaning duties to a member of the church who is afterward supposed to return the keys,” said the clergy.
As the church blames local gangs for the rampant robberies, the police however hold a different opinion on the same.
A police officer who sought anonymity said that they suspect that the robberies are an inside job being conducted by the congregants.
This is because, according to the officer, most of the thieves have accessed the church properties through the use of master keys.
“What makes the cases even more challenging is that the church management does not immediately report the theft cases or even bother to follow up after making their complaints to the police,” said the officer.
To make matters even worse, some of the churches have dropped the charges made to the police.
Out of the five churches robbed in recent months, three have withdrawn their complaints stopping the police from conducting their investigations.
In two of the incidences, the police had arrested the church watchmen but a few days later, the church management sought to have them released.
This is because the employees are locals and members of the church thus detaining them may result in grudges between the church management and residents.
To resolve this, a church member says that PCEA is currently working on outsourcing services from security firms to guard its churches.
Apart from the Presbyterian churches, two other churches of different denominations have experienced a similar theft.
Currently, the police are investigating a robbery incident that occurred on October 23 at the Overcoming Power Ministry Church in Gachiriro village. The thieves got away with goods worth Sh212,000.
In another incident, a Mukurweini Magistrate Court last week sentenced a local known as Paul Mwaniki to two years imprisonment for stealing from the Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa (PEFA) Church.
He was found guilty of stealing utensils, water pipes, padlocks, bar soaps, a cooking stove and a television set.
Mwaniki is also currently facing attempted robbery charges in a different suit where he is accused of stealing goods worth Sh200,000 from the Ichamara Gospel Church.
At Othaya Police Station, police are still holding onto recovered church musical items which were found in a repair business in the town.
So far, Othaya Sub-County Police Commander Robert Kibuchi says that 10 pastors from different constituencies in Nyeri have complained of having been robbed of church items, following the report on recovered items.
“But we have all asked them to prove ownership of the items before we release them,” he told the Nation. BY DAILY NATION