Sixty-three senior police officers were yesterday dismissed by the National Police Service (NPSC) after they were found unsuitable to hold office in the recent vetting exercise involving 1,364 officers.
NPSC chairman Johnston Kavuludi said 28 of them are Senior Superintendent of Police (SSPs), 32 Superintendent of Police (SPs) and three Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASPs), majority of them being from Traffic and Administration Police units.
“Vetting has brought to the fore the complex corruption networks and the interface between officers and their seniors.
Through scrutiny of M-Pesa statements, the commission was able to establish junior officers working in the traffic department regularly transferred fixed amounts of money to some of their seniors, suggesting they had been given targets,” Kavuludi revealed.
However, 1, 272 officers were declared suitable to serve whereas results of 29 others have been withheld pending further investigations. Their fate will be determined in 14 days. Administration Police Service spokesperson Masoud Mwinyi is one of the senior officers declared unfit to serve.
Also dismissed was senior Traffic Officer Joshua Ongoro Aseto, who is based at Vigilance House. During his vetting, Aseto broke down and wept uncontrollably when he was questioned why he never withdrew his salary, which had accumulated to Sh8 million, for 25 years.
According to the commission records, those dismissed from the service were found guilty of human rights violations, human trafficking, corruption, criminal activities, obstruction of the course of justice and forgery of academic certificates.
However, the exited officers can apply for review of their sacking by the vetting board. Vetting results, some of them which will be forwarded to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation, unearthed an intricate web of financial transactions between interfacing senior officers and their juniors particularly in the traffic department.
One of the cases cited involves Sh7.7 million M-Pesa transactions by a regional traffic police officer collected over 17 months while another is that if police constable, who transacted Sh3.1 million over 13 months.
“Some regular transactions between officers and their juniors are specific, indicating they have been given daily targets. The worst hit are Mariakani and Mlolongo weigh-bridges,” Kavuludi added.
The NPSC also established instances of conflict of interest as police officers are also engaged in business. He further disclosed that majority of M-Pesa outlets near police stations are ran or leased out by police officers ion order to facilitate direct bribe deposits.
“Majority of the depositors are motorists and long distance operators,” he added. “It has become evident that a good number of police officers are involved in either transport or security business.
This information will be helpful while developing regulations on the type of trade or business that police officers can be authorised to engage in by the commission.” The People Daily established that Aseto has since developed medical complications and was admitted to hospital.
He thrilled and shocked the commission in equal measure in Eldoret when he recounted his poor past that informed his decision to never withdraw his salary in order to improve his life instead of living in poverty and anguish.
Since December 2013 when the vetting exercise started, close to 1,500 officers have been vetted. In the next phase, the commission will vet officers according to police formations - a complete departure from the usual ranking system - beginning with the traffic department.
In June some senior police officers claimed the Kavuludi commission was being unfair to them and one even threatened a court action. The officer said he was considering taking the police vetting panel to court over what he considers a violation of his right to employment.
He claimed the panel was not interested in giving him a fair hearing and that the senior assistant commissioner of police feared that the session will be used to embarrass him.
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