Murang'a parents up in arms over gambling dens
Gambling slot machines recovered during a raid by DCI detectives. Parents say children have been stealing coins from them to go gambling.
Residents of Sabasaba in Murang’a County have raised the alarm over the return of gambling machines and backstreet casinos, amid concerns that children are stealing money from their parents to play slot games.
They have threatened to raid the gambling premises and open-air stands and force the owners to close them down.
Children, they claimed, were stealing money from them for gambling in places that sell alcohol and narcotics.
“Besides getting hooked on gambling, other dangers include getting introduced to substance abuse,” said Ms Lucy Wambui, the secretary of the residents’ welfare union.
“They are being prompted to drop out of school and join the criminal world, because those who run the illicit gambling machines and open-air casinos are school dropouts.”
Speaking to journalists at the Sabasaba market, Ms Wambui said gambling machines also starve the town’s traders of coins.
“Once the machines swallow those coins, it takes about a week for the owners to come and open the safes,” she said.
Nation.Africa has learnt that several bars have gambling machines, with the drinking joints flouting operating hours and admitting children to gamble.
It also emerged that there is confusion over who exactly is supposed to fight the menace, as part of Sabasaba is in Murang’a South sub-county while the other is in Kigumo, meaning the town is under two different security commands.
Ms Wambui said when the news media expose the casinos and bars that operate gambling machines, security officers respond by executing random raids and confiscating some equipment, but gambling resumes soon after.
“Security should make up its mind on whether to fight the vice or allow it. We are tired of the hide-and-seek games it plays with our children’s welfare,” she said.
“It should also tell us whether coin currency mopping through illegal gambling machines is not economic sabotage.”
Murang’a South sub-county police Commander Alexander Shikondi and his Kigumo counterpart Jane Nyakeruma said the matter was being addressed.
