Alleged police imposter Joshua Waiganjo took part in planning bungled Baragoi swoop, court told

NAKURU: A senior police officer has told a Nakuru court that alleged police imposter Joshua Waiganjo participated in planning the bungled police Baragoi operation and enjoyed close links with former police boss Mathew Iteere.

Mbooni Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Peter Njeru Nthiga said Waiganjo, who was also close to former Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer John Mbijiwe, participated in a delicate security meeting to plan the bungled Baragoi operation.

Mr Nthiga, who served as OCPD for Njoro, recalled Waiganjo and his brother Gerald Maina boarded a police helicopter to Baragoi together with Mbijiwe and other senior security officers from Rift Valley.

He said Waiganjo attended and participated in a key security meeting where they were briefed on the security situation in Baragoi. During the trip, Nthiga was designated as the PPO’s personal assistant.

“It was during that meeting that it was resolved that a joint operation be conducted and the resolutions were made after consultations with Iteere, who was being briefed throughout the meeting by Mbijiwe,” the witness said.

The country witnessed one of its worst fatalities following the massacre of 42 police officers during the ill-fated operation.

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Nthiga said as the meeting progressed, Waiganjo’s brother was outside taking pictures of the Baragoi scenery and had also taken other photos while they overflew the area.

Waiganjo, he added, scolded a senior Criminal Investigations Officer for failing to arrest a local civic leader accused of being behind livestock theft in the area.

SILENT INQUIRY

He said later when he asked Waiganjo why he was operating from the PPO’s office while he had initially claimed to be attached to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit, Waiganjo told him it was through instructions from Iteere.

The OCPD said he approached a senior CID officer (a Mr Kimilu) at the CID headquarters to make a silent inquiry on who Waiganjo was, but the officer told him not to pursue the matter until Iteere left office.

The witness told Nakuru Senior Resident Magistrate Joe Omindo that Waiganjo would occasionally call Iteere and Mbijiwe and at one time put on the loud speaker.

He was testifying in a case where the former Rift Valley police boss and Michael Remi Ngugi of the anti-stock theft unit face abuse of office charges in connection to the recruitment of “police impostor” Waiganjo.

Waiganjo is accused of falsely presenting himself as a senior police officer and presiding over a graduation ceremony by inspecting a guard of honour mounted by forest guards on September 14 at the Kenya Forestry college in Londiani.

He said an inspector of police was immediately posted to Suam police post, along the Kenya-Police border, after Waiganjo asked him to propose someone.

The witness also said Waiganjo presented himself before a Nakuru court and made an application to have a case lodged by his mother withdrawn after the officer refused to do so.

Nthiga recalled when he first met Waiganjo, he held the rank of a senior superintendent of police but he later came in the PPO’s Land Rover and told him there were police promotions under way and he had applied to Iteere for promotion to an assistant commissioner of police.

“He was certain to be committed to the next rank and two days later he came wearing the rank of an assistant commissioner of police,” Nthiga said.

He said at one point the PPO sought to know why officers dispatched to Waiganjo parents’ home for a fundraiser arrived at the function late.

“Mbijiwe told me that Iteere had asked him why the officers arrived late at his friend’s function,” the officer added.