NAIROBI COMPUTER HARD DISKS STOLEN FROM GOVERNMENT ENERGY MINISTER'S HOUSEThieves raid minister?s officeThieves raid minister’s office
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By Cyrus Ombati

Thieves broke into Energy minister Simeon Nyachae’s Nyayo House office and carted away computer hard disks and confidential files.

The Wednesday night break-in has baffled observers because Nyayo House is a heavily guarded Government property, which is assigned a senior Administration Police Officer.

And observers were quick to point out that the thieves were particularly after information because they vandalised computers in the minister’s office to get to the hard disks.

The thieves also broke into Assistant Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri’s office and the office of Nyachae’s secretary. There were marks of sharp metal rods on Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike’s door which, police said, indicated an unsuccessful attempt to wrench the locks.

Yesterday, vandalised computers, cables, files and papers littered the three offices. Members of staff were shocked at the brazen break-in and some of them paced up and down the corridor as they waited for police to dust the offices for fingerprints.

The break-in into the offices on the 23rd floor intrigued investigators and ministry officials alike because Nyayo House, which also houses the Immigration Department, the Provincial Administration headquarters and other key Government departments, is under 24-hour guard.

It is patrolled at night and strangers are not allowed into the building after working hours.

This is the first time a minister’s office has been broken into. Police were last night looking at who could be interested in confidential information at the Ministry of Energy.

The last time there was a major office break-in was last October when burglars struck at the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General at Kencom House in Nairobi where they also vandalised computers before making away with hard disks containing vital audit records.

Nyachae did not show up at his office yesterday and Kiunjuri left shortly after talking to the Press, saying he and Nyachae would be back when things are in order.

Nyachae’s Personal Assistant, Mr Patrick Mwangi, said data on routine correspondence and unknown property were stolen from the minister’s offices.

Although he sought to downplay the attack, it’s instructive that the Ministry of Energy controls key multi-million parastatals that handle huge sums of money and lucrative contracts.

Some of the confidential information and documents could have been on matters touching on the operations of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company, KenGen, Kenya Pipeline and the National Oil Corporation that fall under the ministry.

The burglars could also have perused or got away with documents on Cabinet meetings.

It also emerged that there was a serious security lapse the night of the burglary and lax policemen in the building let one of the thieves slip through their fingers.

The policemen met the man carrying a computer at about 11 pm and when confronted, he lied to them that he was a civil servant.

When they asked him to identify himself, he asked for two minutes to pick his pass from his car downstairs and left the computer behind. That was the last they saw of him. Kiunjuri said no serious data was stolen from the offices and that they have a backup for the information that was stolen.

Security officers at the city’s provincial headquarters said the unknown number of people went into the offices at about 8.30 pm.

They struck 30 minutes after Kiunjuri had left his office. A secretary at the offices said they left at about 8 pm.

"They must have been people who timed us well because we left here shortly after 8 pm and we were the last people to leave," said the secretary.

Nyachae is said to have left his office at lunch hour but did not return.

The thugs who seemed to be well versed with the offices entered through a window.