Former assistant chief yet to be paid despite arrest of Cheparkach

Former Kiplombe chief Sammy Kosgei, who recently captured the most wanted criminal suspect Timothy Kita,i alias Cheparkack, speaks to the Standard yesterday. He said, he had not been paid the sh 1 million the government had offered to anybody who will assist on arresting the suspect who was linked in MT Elgon murder. 28.08.2018. [PHOTO: PETER OCHIENG/STANDARD].

A former administrator who risked his life to arrest a suspect with a Sh1 million bounty on his head is yet to get his reward.

Inspector General of Police Wilson Boinnet early this year promised a Sh1 million reward to anyone who would help arrest Timothy Kitai alias Cheparkach, a man accused of masterminding killings in Mt Elgon.

Former Kiplombe assistant chief Sammy Kosgei arrested the suspect at Maili Tisa in Eldoret on May 14 this year, and frogmarched him to the police station. But he had no idea it was Cheparkach.

Mr Kosgei said he found Cheparkach talking to an old man, but when he approached them, he moved away.

“I sensed from his body language that he was uneasy. I told him to move closer and he answered in Kiswahili that he was new in the area and that he was from Uganda,” Kosgei said.

He added: “I asked him to produce his identity card (ID). Instead he produced an abstract from Uganda,” he added.

Kosgei then told him that since he did not have an ID card, he would take him to the nearest police station. That unnerved the stranger and he started running away

“I ran after him and tackled him to the ground,” said Kosgei.

The former assistant chief then searched the suspect and found a mobile phone, a sim card and an ID card in his pockets. It is then that Cheparkach confessed who he was.

Turbo Sub County Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Mwabudzo acknowledges the important role Kosgei played in Cheparkach's arrest in a letter to Mr Boinnet dated July 30 and asks the State to reward him.