PHOTO:

Charles Munyao when he appeared before the National Police Service Commission during vetting for traffic police officers at Golf Hotel in Kakamega on August 17, 2016. PHOTO | ISAAC WALE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By:

BENSON AMADALA

Posted:

Aug,17-2016 13:22:09

Kenya--A hostile police officer in Kenya refused to reveal why he was sending money to a colleague, arguing that it was a personal matter.

Constable George Okeyo, attached to the Kimilili traffic patrol in Bungoma County, got into trouble with members of the National Police Service Commission vetting panel, who accused him of indiscipline and disrespect.

Mr Okeyo was on Tuesday reprimanded after he told Commissioner Mary Owuor not to push him to reveal how he was related to a female colleague he sent Sh24,000 to on a mobile money transfer service.

"That is a personal matter and I'am not ready to discuss it here. I have told you I sent her the money to financially support her as she was studying for a degree at the university," said Constable Okeyo.

Despite being prodded by Ms Owuor to cooperate on the matter and provide more details, the officer declined, saying the issue was a personal affair.

'UNPROFESSIONAL' CONDUCT

"Remember you furnished the panel with documents and that is what we are relying on to do our work," said Commissioner Owuor.

Johnston Kavuludi, the chairman of the commission, reprimanded the officer for being disrespectful.

He told the officer that traffic officers at the Kimilili patrol base were operating in unprofessional manner exposing the police service to ridicule.

Mr Kavuludi said he had received many complaints about roadblocks erected by traffic officers at Kamkuywa, Mfupi and Maliki on the Webuye-Kitale road leading to a confrontation with the public.

"Because members of the public see what goes on, they have decided to take the law into their [own] hands and stone officers receiving bribes from motorists," said Mr Kavuludi.

Constable Okeyo had earlier told the panel that apart from his salary, he generated additional income from his farming and fishing businesses in Suba County.

TRANSPORT PERMIT

He said he owned a fishing boat and earned between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000 per month from the business, and Sh10,000 from rent.

The officer said he took loans from a savings society and a bank to invest in the businesses.

In another vetting case, an inspector of police in charge of the Rongo weighbridge was taken to task about why officers impounded water drilling equipment for a week in March this year.

Inspector Peter Ngui said the equipment was released after he received a phone call from police spokesperson Charles Owino.

"The instruction we had from engineers from the Kenya National Highway Authority was to detain the machinery and ask the owner to deposit Sh10,000 at the bank for a permit," explained the officer.

But Mr Kavuludi told the officer to stop misleading the panel since the owner had a permit to transport the equipment.

"I want to remind you that the owner had already obtained a permit and by detaining the equipment, your officers ended up inconveniencing a Kenyan who was going about his business normally," said Mr Kavuludi.

SOLD GOODS

Police Constable Charles Mutuku, from Kakamega, explained that the huge deposits in his bank account were from the sale of goods in a canteen he was operating while serving in Mandera.

He said when he was transferred, he asked a colleague to run the canteen and send him the earnings from the business. He said the Sh381,000 sent to his M-Pesa account was from the business.

Police Constable Evans Kingara, also from Kakamega, told the panel he had been offered a bribe by a motorist who had rammed a parked vehicle but rejected the money.

He said he later learnt the complainant was a brother of Mr Kavuludi.

"The driver in the wrong approached me and attempted to offer a bribe to do a report on the accident in his favour, but I rejected [it] and told him the matter should be handled at the police station since he had committed an offence," said Mr Kingara.

Source:

Nation