Iteere takes graft dragon by the horns but will he win?

Njoroge Kinuthia

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere’s decision to transfer 615 traffic police officers and disband nine traffic bases linked to massive corruption is laudable.

The officers have been redeployed to general duties in a move aimed at fighting rampant corruption in the force.

The changes show that the police boss is tired of tales of corruption in the force and is keen to get rid of the vice albeit in one fell swoop. His action is proof that he takes public concerns on corruption seriously.

Greenhorns

Some transferred officers are reported to have scoffed at Iteere’s decision to replace them with greenhorns, claiming they would have a tough time unless they undergo induction from them. However, PointBlank believes the only course that the newcomers might have missed at Kiganjo, and which they don’t need, is; ‘How to receive a bribe without raising eyebrows’.

However, there is a possibility the newcomers might see this as their ‘time to eat’ or might pick bad manners from interactions with their predecessors. This is why the commissioner must keep his eyes wide open.

Marketplace that looks like a road

Mr Ismail Noorani a Nairobi resident who has lived on Quarry Road for two decades says he is appalled by the “situation of the road and the danger it poses to human lives”.

He claims Quarry Road is only a road by name as it has been converted into a market place for all manner of businesses. Noorani says kiosks have sprouted all over the area and food is cooked and eaten in the open.

Besides, All manner of hardware materials, including scrap metal and stones, are sold on the road.

“Lorries and matatus are also repaired on the road, making it impossible for other motorists to cross over this road,” he adds.

And that’s not all. Noorani claims every morning at 5.30am and in the evening from 6.30pm a fire is lit to burn tyres, shoe soles, used motor vehicle accessories and all manner of junk, “polluting the air and general environment we are living in”.

He concludes: It appears that National Environment Management Authority, City Council, Traffic Police and the area MP – Margaret Wanjiru cannot do anything or are unwilling to address this pathetic situation.

Sending wrong message to clients

Are mobile service providers charging clients for services they’ve not subscribed for? This according to two of their clients is the case. Eddy Sindiga, an Airtel customer telephone number 0733428586 says recently he received nine text messages from the 247 service ,which he had not subscribed for.

To his surprise, all the messages had the same content and each cost him Sh10. “Even if one was to subscribe, how can this service send nine messages with the same content at the same time and charge for all?” he wonders. Sindiga says he demanded a refund from Airtel on August 5, but has not been paid to date. “I need the refund of Sh90 for the nine smss erroneously deducted from my account,” he asserts.

Unsuspecting

Mr Bryan Juma, mobile number 0724454699, has a similar complaint against Safaricom.

“Why does Safaricom allow people to defraud unsuspecting clients with messages like ‘you’ve won a certain amount of cash’ or ‘your Skiza tune request has been received’?” he asks.

He says the messages are sent without one making a request and claims to have been charged Sh5 twice for Skiza tunes he never asked for.

Forgotten part of Mombasa Road

Writing from Mombasa, Gerald Mutiso Mutua, is unhappy with what he terms deliberate neglect of the Changamwe and Miritini section of Mombasa Road.

He says it takes only ten minutes to cover this stretch ‘in good flowing traffic’ but it now takes three hours to cover the distance due to congestion. The section has many lorries going to the Mombasa Port, he says.

He accuses the Ministry of Roads of pretending not to know what its supposed to do and says: What we need now are two lanes from Changamwe to Mariakani with immediate effect.

DON’T YOU FORGET

Did Orengo speed up ‘slow’ Kisumu office

On July 14 we highlighted a complaint by Kisumu resident Mr Okore Charles who alleged that locals were going through “massive frustrations in the hands of the Lands office staff”. He complained that processing of title deeds takes unnecessarily longer than before.

“I lodged my documents for a title deed for some property in Kapuonja way back on May 10, having satisfied all the requirements, but to date I’m yet to receive my title deed,” he said. He urged Lands Minister James Orengo to consider bringing back ‘an efficient officer’ who had been transferred from Kisumu in order to bolster efficiency in the office. We are yet to hear from the minister but we still would like to know whether appropriate action was taken to speed things up in this office.

Right of Reply
Combating piracy not within MCSK’s mandate

In response to an article about Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) in The Standard newspaper’s PointBlank on July, we wish to respond as follows:

That MCSK having been licensed as a Collective Management Organisation under Section 46 (2) of the Copyright Act No. 12 of 2001, collects and distributes royalties for performing rights in the category of musical works, and therefore ONLY ensures that all performances of musical works in Public are licensed.

That as per the legal mandate of the organisation, MCSK is not involved in matters of piracy, and therefore the alleged officers referred to in the said article were and/or are not members of staff from the MCSK. According to the provisions of the said Act, Piracy issues are dealt with by the Kenya Copyright Board, a Government agency that operates under the office of the Attorney General.

That it is true, in the past, we have received reports from various parts of the country (not only Bungoma) indicating that some persons not known to the society, masquerade as officials from the society and end up soliciting for bribes from members of the public.

In this regard, all our bona fide employees have official Job Identification Cards, which as a company policy, they are required to display whenever on duty. Furthermore, the MCSK Electronic staff IDs, can be authenticated by the members of public upon presentation, by simply sending the card number of the respective staff to a short code as provided on the same ID.

We, therefore wish to set the record straight that the said raids in April 2011 in Bungoma, were not by our officers but, by imposters who may have used the name of MCSK.

For And on behalf of MCSK Ltd,

Peter Enyenze,
Licensing Manager,