Police and bribery: The Mandera version
Taxis on the main street in Mandera town on October 24, 2022. Police have been accused of collecting bribes from residents of Mandera at illegal road blocks.
Mr Ali Gedi (not his real name) has been a taxi operator in Mandera town for at least six years.
He says business is good despite informal agreements and arrangements with the police over how he does his work.
“We had problems sometime back when all our vehicles were impounded and taken to the military camp over security issues in this town, but since then most of us formally registered their vehicles legally and we started doing business,” he said.
In 2016, he said, security agencies in Mandera suggested that all taxis in the town form groups for easy identification if members were involved in an incident.
“Some of us were transporting terrorists from Somalia into Mandera to cause mayhem, but after we formed groups, it became easier to know who among us was doing what and this worked well for security agencies in tracking the enemy,” Mr Gedi said.
But things changed when security improved and the same police officers introduced monthly fees that taxi operators had to pay to them.
A taxi with tinted windows pays Sh1,000 monthly, while those with clear window screens pay Sh300 weekly.
“We pay a monthly operation fee of Sh1,000 to the police which is collected by every group’s chairman,” he said.
Security officers during the Mashujaa Day fete on October 20, 2022. Some police officers have been accused of erecting roadblocks to collect bribes in Mandera town.
He revealed that the fee covers traffic offences and other illegal activities committed by taxi operators.
“It was very rare to find a taxi operator taken to court over traffic offences and yet we commit them daily. Once arrested by the traffic officers, you only need to call your chairman and you will be freed,” he said.
Records at the Mandera Law Courts show that the police charged two people with traffic offences in August, five in September and 11 this October.
Al-Shabaab terror
Because of the threat of Al-Shabaab terror, the bodaboda business was not introduced in Mandera town until 2018.
Before that year, all motorcycles on roads belonged to the government.
“We faced security challenges posed by Al-Shabaab militants using motorcycles and we could not allow the operation of bodaboda in the town,” a security source told Nation.Africa.
Now, there are more than 200 bodabodas in Mandera town alone and each pays a weekly fee of Sh500 to the police.
“We are in about four groups that can be found at the bus park, cereals board area, livestock market and the Suftu border point,” Mr Osman Kilaskow said.
“To operate a motorcycle, you have to register it with the police and in one of the groups for security purposes. Despite all this, you will still pay a monthly subscription of Sh500 to the police.”
Other groups that have complained that they have to pay "security fees" to police include shop owners, wholesalers, hardware dealers, donkey cart operators and truck owners.
Mandera Township MCA Feisal Abdinoor lifted the lid on the secretive bribe collection by police during Mashujaa Day celebrations on Thursday last week.
He told the county security committee, led by County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha, that businesses in Mandera town were bleeding money.
Police operations
“Residents of Mandera are suffering because of the police operations in this town. Police have erected roadblocks not for security reasons but for bribe collections,” he said amid cheers from the crowd.
He named several police checkpoints as the most notorious, including one near Moi Girls Secondary School on the main road in Mandera town and others at Barwaqo, the livestock market and Neboi.
Taxis and a bus on the main street in Mandera town on October 24, 2022. Police have been accused of collecting bribes from residents of Mandera at illegal road blocks.
“Anyone who wants to pass through all these roadblocks must pay. If you are going to the livestock market and anywhere else in this town you must pay,” he said.
Mr Abdinoor claimed roadblocks are usually guarded by the same police officers and they take note of the vehicles that have paid and those that have not.
“These officers are never changed or even moved to other duties. They are always at these roadblocks. They do not serve the purpose of having these roadblocks but collecting money from wananchi,” he said.
Mr Abdinoor’s claims seemed to rattle the Mandera East security team, led by the sub-county Police Commander Erick Ng’etich, who was present.
Responding to the MCA’s outburst, County Commissioner Kyatha denied that security officers collect bribes at roadblocks in Mandera town.
Multi-agency team
“Whatever is being collected is not for me or for these other officers. If that is happening at the roadblocks, then we shall introduce the multiagency roadblocks,” Mr Kyatha said.
He instructed Mandera East Deputy County Commissioner William Kipchirchir to form a multi-agency team that will man roadblocks in Mandera town.
“We have clear instructions and our duty is to serve members of the public but not to frustrate them. We shall deal with that problem,” Mr Kyatha said.
The officers reportedly collect no more than Sh50 from each vehicle passing through the checkpoints.
“If you dish out a Sh1,000 note, they will give you change of Sh950 and let you go through. You can even negotiate if you use the road regularly and pay when you get money but they will note down your debt,” Ms Quresha Ali said.
Ms Ali works in Madera town and complained that she has to budget for these bribes.
The roadblocks are set up as early as 6am for the officers to collect their share from quarry workers.
“These police officers are always at the roadblocks every morning as we go to the quarries. They always collect Sh50 but still get Sh2,000 from the quarry owners every week,” a miner said.
The local business community blamed the corruption on senior police officers who have ‘overstayed’ in Mandera.
Mandera East OCPD Erick Ngetich has been boss in the division for more than four years, while police station commander (OCS) Peter Ashuman was transferred last week after five years in the dusty town.
Mr Ashuman was replaced as area OCS by Mr Andrew Kivindyu.
Mandera East DCIO Samson Muniko has been at the station for five years.
To cover their tracks, the chairmen of the taxi and bodaboda groups were hired as National Police Reservists (NPRs) in Mandera town and their duty is to collect monthly bribes from members and deliver them to the police.
“If senior officers are transferred maybe after two to three years of serving in an area, then such cases will reduce, but if someone is left in an area for too long, he becomes careless and engages in such vices,” local businessman Maalim Dahir said.
