Malaba police officer received money 60 times in a month

Evans Kengara before the vetting panel chaired by Johnston Kavuludi at Kakamega Golf hotel. A police constable had a hectic time explaining why he received money 60 times from three people within one month. (PHOTO: BENJAMIN SAKWA/ STANDARD)

A police constable had a hectic time explaining why he received money 60 times from three people within one month.

Sylvester Rotich, who is based in Malaba, received the money through mobile money transfer in December 2012.

The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) noted one individual had sent him money 38 times amounting to Sh144,000 while another sent him 16 times amounting to Sh71,425. He received some Sh16,255 from the third person.

The panel learnt the officer received money from people who own long-distance trucks. The officer could not explain why most of those who sent him money owned matatus. This was after commissioner Ronald Musengi raised the question with him.

"You are a matatu owner and you keep sending money to a police officer on a daily basis. Is this not compromising the officer so that he should not impound the vehicle?" asked Mr Musengi.

The commission was also baffled by the officer's revelation that he had taken a loan of over Sh1 million from a local lender to buy a tractor using a bank statement of another person, yet he earns a net salary of less than Sh30,000 a month.

Another officer, David Nthenge, currently stationed at the Kitui traffic base, also had a hard time explaining why he frequently sent a considerable amount of money to 11 senior police officers.

He, however, denied sending money to any of his senior officers. The commission had it on record that he had sent money 14 times to a certain OCS and OCPD, both based in Nairobi.

This prompted Murshid Mohamed, who was chairing the session, to ask for full information.

"We are seeing a trend of you habitually sending money to senior officers, you will need to be a bit serious and tell us because our finding might not be good for you," said Mr Mohammed.

Mr Nthenge later accepted that he was sending them money for harambee because they both hail from one village.

"Since when did junior police officers start sending money to people who are senior?" Musengi asked.

He found it hard to explain where exactly he was getting the cash he was sending from. At one point, he sent money 15 times to a senior officer within a short period of time.

"The record we have here shows you sent money to an OCS at least 15 times. Where were you getting the money from?" he was asked.

Commissioner Musengi noted that a trend of senior officers harassing junior officers to send them money was still rife.

"We can only see money coming from you to them and not them  to you," Musengi said.

Police constable Rhodah Mwamburi based at the Kakamega Regional Traffic Enforcement Office was also questioned about her mobile transactions.

At some point, she sent out Sh103,000 nine times to a certain lady whom she said had a financial need and was only assisting her as a friend.

She was also interrogated on why she sent money to one of her bosses 20 times.