Coast senior police officers face tough questions from vetting team

Kenya: Senior police officers based in Mombasa and North Eastern region faced tough questions from a panel vetting their suitability for office.

The officers were questioned over their financial records and depth of knowledge of issues like terrorism, radicalism and piracy and how to combat them.

A senior criminal investigations officer who once served in Mombasa County prior to his posting in North Eastern region was taken to task over how he acquired Sh1 million in less than two weeks.

Appearing before the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) during its sittings in Mombasa on Monday, Mandera East DCIO Gabriel Nyaga had difficulties in explaining the source of the money deposited into his account.

NPSC Commissioner Murshid Mohammed had suggested that the money might have been proceeds from money laundering.

Nyaga denied ever being involved in illicit money deals and said that his sister-in-law had loaned him the money to boost his bank account.

"I wanted to take a loan worth Sh3,000,000 from Equity Bank to boost my wife's business. She deals in cereals and electronic and required extra funds to boost the business," said Nyaga.

The panel questioned why he had deposited the money in batches of Sh200,000 within a duration of 16 days in 2011 and then made a one-time withdrawal without the records indicating the whole transaction.

Nyaga maintained that the money was genuine and it was only his sister-in-law who could verify the source of the money.

"My sister-in-law is a consultant in Nyeri and she has her own business so I took the money without any doubts because she runs a legit consultancy firm," he said.

Nyaga said he did not take the loan after he was transferred to Mandera after a year in Mombasa because he thought the business would not pick as planned.

He failed to provide specific dates and documents to prove that his sister-in-law had advanced him any money or that indeed he had intended to take a loan from Equity Bank.

The panel insisted that Nyaga provide the documents to avoid more suspicions on the source of the money.

As the vetting entered its third day, poor pay, lack of efficient and effective machinery emerged as some of the factors limiting police efforts to combat crime in some parts of the country.

The officers who faced the panel had a lot to explain regarding terrorism and drug menace, especially in the Coastal region.

Coast Superintendent of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in Mombasa Kanywira Charles cited poverty as the main reason many youths were being radicalised.

He also said some people were taking advantage of the Muslim religion to confuse and recruit vulnerable youths.

NPSC commissioner Murshid Mohammed said that they had also established that there were very few female officers who get promoted to the post of superintendent.

He said vetting was aimed at formulating policies that are relevant and applicable to the police service.