Kavuludi says NPSC commissioners’ lives in danger after unidentified police officers send death threats over alleged bias in vetting

The National Police Service Commission says their lives are in danger after unidentified police officers sent death threats to them over alleged bias in vetting process.

The commissioners have however vowed to continue with the plans to vet the next group of 12,000 especially inspectors.

Commission chairman Johnston Kavuludi said Wednesday some of the targeted officers in the vetting exercise have been sending letters to various agencies including State House threatening to kill the commissioners if the vetting exercise is not stopped.

Already police have launched investigations into the letters in a bid to know those behind them.

Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet who is also a commissioner at the commission is the one who first received the threatening letter. He has since launched investigations into the letter.

“If you read the letter you realise the main aim is to stop the vetting process and we don’t know what they are fearing. We suspect some of the officers who are targeted are behind it. We are not a banana republic to fear,” said Kavuludi.

The anonymous letter dated that was received at police headquarters on February 3 was addressed to the president and copied to various entities including the media says “enough is enough…something must be done and done *fairy* fast before things get out of hand in this key security service called the police service.”

The letter is poorly written, whether intentionally or not but has sent a message.

For instance, it refers as Kavulidi, the chairman of the commission.

“We the police officers in solidarity with our colleagues who have been unfairly removed from the police service through the so called vetting by Kavulidi write to appeal for your early intervention before we take the law into our hands,” says part of the letter.

It adds; “A number of us in our several meetings have been thinking of pushing a bullet into his dirty mind but we want to give Your Excellency a chance to address our concern…not that vetting is being resisted but it should be done fairly and the real bad shown the door but the opposite is what is happening and this want we want to demonstrate in this write up.”

The author of the letter says “concerned officers who have said enough is enough and are ready for anything including what we have indicated in this letter if the above issues are not addressed with speed.”

“Its very painful to be removed when your issues are not so grave and others who are seriously culpable are allowed to go scotfree….and to add an insult to an injury they get promoted by Kavulidi,” says the letter.

The letter adds some officers had paid a bribe to be cleared in the vetting exercise. Kavuludi denied the claims yesterday saying it is part of efforts to stop the vetting process. He addressed the media yesterday to reveal there have been many threats to them over the vetting exercise.

It is the fifth time that the commissioners get such threats and Kavuludi said the threats are now serious because those targeted are key in police management and are fearing for no reason.

“Why worry when you know you are doing your job? We are also doing our work as per the law,” he said.

 The first instance happened when a human head without a torso and wrapped in a box was delivered to the commission offices at the start of the vetting exercise in 2013.

When the incident happened, a pair of hands chopped from the wrist was also found in the box, together with the head, which was covered with blood.

The victim was later identified as 35-year-old Hussein Abdalla from Mombasa who had gone missing from Kayole area in Nairobi as he visited a relative.

A relative who identified the remains said the man was his cousin and was in Nairobi to visit him. He told officers the deceased went missing after a drinking spree. The rest of the body was found at a farm in Ruai, Nairobi.

No arrest has been made on the incident.

Those removed so far from the service were accused of engaging in criminal activities, corruption, human trafficking and smuggling.

The next group to be vetted include inspectors are OCSs and those from traffic.

The objective of the vetting is to build confidence and trust in the National Police Service.

The applicable vetting standards include officers’ satisfaction of entry and training requirements, their professional conduct and discipline, integrity, financial probity, and respect for human rights.

Officers who satisfy the commission with regard to competence and suitability are retained and those who do not will be removed from the service.