A senior police officer yesterday told a Nakuru court that a man who masqueraded as a top police officer performed extraordinary duties because of protection by seniors.
Former Njoro police boss Peter Nthiga further told Senior Resident Magistrate Joe Omido that attempts by other middle-ranking police officers to raise questions about Joshua Waiganjo’s suitability for the police service were futile.
“He was and will remain a police imposter in capital letters. He succeeded even to blow dust into my eyes because of protection by then Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere,” said Nthiga said.
Mr Nthiga, a senior superintendent of police and Mbooni police boss, spoke on the second day of the trial of Waiganjo and two former top cops accused of abuse of office.
He was being cross-examined by Senior Counsel Pravin Bowry who is representing one of the accused, former Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer John Mb’ijiwe.
Poke holes
Mr Bowry, and lawyer Simon Mwangi representing Waiganjo (pictured), had a difficult day trying to poke holes into Nthiga’s report written on January 2013, detailing his interaction with Waiganjo and how he suspected him to be an imposter.
Nthiga is the first witness in the case in which Waiganjo is charged with impersonating a top police officer alongside Mr Mb’ijiwe and former Anti-Stock Theft Unit Commander Michael Remi Ngugi.
The Mbooni police boss, who said he had served on the force for 24 years, two years in Njoro where he interacted frequently with Waiganjo, maintained he (Waiganjo) was an imposter who miraculously made things roll at the service.
“He proposed that I should have a police vehicle for official duties and I got it in two days. I could not resist and that vehicle is still in use,” Nthiga said.
Bowry, after Nthiga continued to narrate that Waiganjo initiated the transfer of an inspector of police to Suam border police post, appeared baffled, sarcastically calling the OCPD “very gullible”.
The Baragoi flight prior to the killing of over 40 police officers took centre-stage for the second day, with questions focusing on the clearance of a civilian said to have boarded a police helicopter.
The witness said he suspected Waiganjo was an imposter in September 2012, only two months after meeting him.
The then Njoro OCPD said Waiganjo was brought by a police vehicle driven by corporal.
The case was adjourned to January 18 to 21, next year, as the prosecution was advised to reduce the 60 witness it was intending to call.