Kieni MP and Chieni retail chain owner Wainaina Njoroge revealed that he incurred losses totalling Kshs 550 million after the Nyeri Supermarket was vandalised and looted by angry residents.
This was after the Anti-Finance Bill protests on Tuesday, June 25 took an ugly turn, when protesters stormed and began destroying the store, ravaging whatever was in sight, stock and equipment respectively.
“I lost movable stock worth Sh450 million and equipment such as bakery shelves, among others, valued at Sh100 million,” the MP told the Standard.
The UDA legislator was among those who voted in favour of the unpopular Finance Bill 2024, triggering the wrath of protesters
who took it as a sign to retaliate and burglarize his business.
Videos and photos online depicted unruly demonstrators hauling various goods from the supermarket. Numerous individuals were spotted with bundles of flour, sacks of sugar, and packages of toilet paper, among other items. Others took electronics such as gas cookers.
The protesters set ablaze the other supermarket branches in Laikipia, Nanyuki and Narumoro.
“The scrap metal dealers are now scavenging for the metallic stands that remained after the inferno,” Njoroge said.
According to the MP, the destruction has rendered 350 employees jobless.
Despite the substantial losses sustained, the MP did not regret casting a Yes vote for the Bill, arguing that the bill was of benefit to his Kieni constituents.
“The people of Kieni stood to benefit from the Bill. We are in an agricultural zone where our people farm onions, potatoes, eggs and milk. They would have enjoyed on the way to the bank because the competition from outside the country would have been reduced if the bill succeeded,” he stated.
Other MPs whose properties were destroyed were Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and Molo MP Kuria Kimani. Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah and Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie had their NG-CDF offices burnt.
