No criminal charges have been preferred against Deputy President William Ruto\u2019s farm manager, Arie Dampers, five days after he was arrested,\u00a0 Arie Dampers, a South African, was arrested by police at the DP\u2019s Mata farm in Taveta Sub-county following a day long inspection of the 1,000 acre property by The Taita-Taveta Water and Sewerage Company (Tavevo) officials in search suspected illegal water connections.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Tavevo obtained a court order to enter the 1,000-acre farm to investigate reports of illegal connections that had diverted water meant for residents to the DP’s property.Yesterday, County Police Commander Said Kiprotich said the suspect was detained on Friday and later released on a police bond awaiting prosecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still waiting for the county government to tell us what to do with the case because it has its own by-laws,\u201d said the police commander.Kiprotich said once the county government decides to charge the suspect, police will seek directions from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have done our part. The ball now lies with the county administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Case dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n Yesterday, The Standard learnt that both the police and the county government are in a dilemma on how to handle the matter with both sides denying responsibility.According to the county government spokesman, Denis Onsarigo, the matter was in the hands of the police.\u201cThe suspect is out on bond based on some charges. The county administration has no powers over the issue. The matter is in the hands of the police.<\/p>\n They are the ones to decide on the next course of action,\u201d he said.On the other hand, Tavevo Managing Director David Ngumbao said the water firm had not instituted any charges against Dampers.\u201cThere are procedures to be followed,\u201d Ngumbao responded.<\/p>\n Earlier, Kiprotich confirmed that police and Tavevo officials found a suspected illegal water connection at the farm leading to the arrest of the manager.\u201cTavevo officials escorted by the police inspected the farm and found a three-quarter-inch pipe which they suspected was an illegal connection,\u201d he said.Last week, Dampers denied diverting water meant for residents to the farm.\u201cCome to the farm anytime and see for yourself,\u201d he said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No criminal charges have been preferred against Deputy President William Ruto\u2019s farm manager, Arie Dampers, five days after he was arrested,\u00a0 Arie Dampers, a South African, was arrested by police at the DP\u2019s Mata farm in Taveta Sub-county following a day long inspection of the 1,000 acre property by The Taita-Taveta Water and Sewerage Company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[1043,1121,1120,312],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-arie-dampers","tag-taita-taveta","tag-tavevo","tag-william-ruto"],"yoast_head":"\n