Police top brass under fire in Nakuru

Kenya: One officer could not recall just when he went to school, another did not have any academic certificates. That was the state of affairs during the second day of police vetting in Nakuru yesterday.

Senior Administration Police officer Benjamin Maritim, who is based in Kajiado, found himself in hot soup after he said he could not remember exactly when he joined secondary school.

He, however, remembered that he dropped out in Form Three in Kitale to join the police force.

Taken aback, National Police Service Commission Chairman Johnston Kavuludi, interjected: “I can tell the year and date I joined primary and secondary schools and when I left and I don’t understand why it is difficult for you to recall those details.”

But that was not enough to jolt Maritim’s elusive memory. Kavuludi consequently directed him to go back to his former school and get a leaving certificate to prove he was a student there.

Interestingly, Maritim had, alongside his other documents, presented a certificate belonging to one Corporal Donald Burudi. Asked why, he explained that the mistake could have been caused by a mix-up during the photocopying process.

Another officer, Senior Administration Police Superintendent Elisha Odhiambo in Baringo County did not have academic papers for primary and secondary school. But he had an explanation.

“I’m sorry to say that I do not have them. In 2006 after I was transferred from Moyale to Mt Elgon my house was burnt and everything was destroyed,” he said.

During the vetting at Police Dog Section in Nakuru, the officer was, however, not asked why he had not made efforts to replace the documents.

But Odhiambo had a special prayer. He asked the panel to give him a chance to continue serving Kenyans.

“When officers like me go home as beggars you will also not be happy,” he told the team.

Further, he said he was instrumental in curbing cattle rustling especially in insecurity-prone Arabal.

Lilian Adamba, a senior superintendent of police, was also hard-pressed to explain how she rose from a junior officer to the senior post with only an A level certificate.

Ms Adamba, currently in charge of International Crime Unit in Nairobi told the commission she failed to go for higher education because she was taking care of her late brother’s children and her own.

The Mukumu High School Alumni, however, said she was now interested in pursuing further studies and asked the commission to be lenient with her while compiling its report.

The commission also learnt that the officer headed the Banking fraud department as a senior investigator attached to the Central Bank of Kenya for several years.

Double salary

“My dream was to become a clinical officer or a teacher. However, my results could not allow me and I ended up joining the police service, a career I thought was challenging and not for me,” she told the commission.

She told the commission that while serving at Central Bank, she got a lot of allowances and a double salary from the employer and the Central Bank and hence her wealth.

Former Police Spokesman Charles Owino defended himself against accusations that he was a “radical” while serving in senior positions.

Instead, he accused senior police officers of promoting corruption and victimising juniors found to have punished corrupt elements in the course of their work.

Mr Owino, who has served in the service for 23 years, shocked the panel when he alleged that one of his colleagues who appeared before the commission on Tuesday, was threatened with a disciplinary action for linking senior police officers with corruption.

“Chairman, I wish not to drop names here but one of us you interviewed yesterday is to appear before a disciplinary committee because he touched on corruption, this is sad and should be addressed,” said Owino.

He was asked why he served for short periods before being transferred to the next station.

Owino gave the example of Njoro where he served as the OCPD for only four months before he was moved to Ndhiwa in the same capacity. He blamed well-connected land grabbers in Nakuru County for engineering his deployment.

From Ndhiwa, he told the commission he was seconded to the Kisumu County Government to head the Inspectorate Unit.

Owino, who holds degree certificates in Political Science and Communication caused laughter when he asked the commission to force one of his wives to disclose her bank accounts, claiming she had refused.

“It is in the knowledge of the commission that you have two wives, a consultant and a magistrate, but in your declaration, you only submitted details belonging to one. It is your obligation to ensure the other follows suit,” Kavuludi told Owino.

He was also required to explain the roles he played as police spokesperson during the Mt Elgon police operation to flush out suspected members of the Sabaot Land Defence Force and during the post-election violence of 2007/8.

Senior Superintendent Abdullahi Adan of Administration Police Bomet County was grilled over how he acquired five taxis in the two years when he served in Kitui County.

The officer said he took a loan of Sh300,000 from Equity bank and bought the first vehicle which cost Sh800,000 and paid the rest from the taxi’s daily earnings.

“I was paying between Sh45,000 and 50,000 monthly to the dealer who sold to me the taxi in order clear the balance,” he said.

A senior Administration Police Officer in Mogotio, Baringo County, Mureithi Ndirangu was taken to task over some deposits in to his accounts.

He explained his wife was responsible for the deposits as she did not have an account prompting Kavuludi to dismiss the response as “not realistic”.