Entire Sabasaba police force transferred after complaints from locals

The National Police Service Commission has transferred all officers from the Sabasaba police station in Murang’a County.

The station had been under investigation for two weeks, with serious allegations levelled against some of the officers.

"After evaluation of the allegations based on received complaints, it has been decided that the station be overhauled,” said Murang'a South police boss Alexander Shikondi on Thursday. 

Murang'a County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo had said on Wednesday that they had to act to "make it very clear that the people own their government".

On Thursday, he revealed that all eight junior officers and the station commander had been removed from the station "and we are now rebuilding the station’s operations with a completely new team".

Two officers from the station were plotting to have a woman extort Sh200,000 from her husband on trumped-up charges of defilement, says a report compiled after the investigations.

The two were also probed on allegations of reckless alcoholism. One of them was accused of allowing barmaids to play with his loaded pistol when he was under the influence of alcohol.

The woman in the alleged extortion had moved out of her matrimonial home and befriended one of the officers, a corporal at the station.

The same officers were asked to explain how they solved a case where a 79-year-old grandmother lost 15 kilos of beans and 18 kilos of maize that she had sent as parcels to her Nairobi-based hunger-devastated daughter but a matatu driver and a tout stole it.

The matter was reported to the station in August and the officers allegedly settled it out of court without involving the grandmother, who is now demanding her goods back.

Security officers

In the extortion case, Nation.Africa interviewed the couple, the officers and senior security officers. The husband said he had a troubled marriage.

"We have three children aged 16, 12 and 8. The eldest is the only daughter we have. My wife had moved out of our matrimonial home in August, and on September 24, I was summoned to the Sabasaba Police Station by the two officers," he said.

He said he found his wife at the station with their daughter and claims were made that he had defiled her.

"I was baffled. To me, it was a lie. I was shown some letters and image scans that I was told were evidence. I was told to go home and think about the case and the danger I was in if I were to be charged in court," he said.

His wife told Nation.Africa that she wanted her husband to finance their daughter’s education and help her start a small business.

"The man has money, but he won't pay up. That is why I planned with the officers to have him put under pressure. I wanted Sh200,000, but the officers told me that I would get Sh150,000 if it was paid. I would settle for not less than Sh100,000," she said.

Mr Ngumo, the county commissioner, called the plot "terrible", while his deputy in Murang'a South sub-county, Gitonga Murungi, described it as "disgusting".

Relief food

Regarding the grandmother’s relief food for her daughter, Mr Shikondi said they were after the driver and the tout to explain what happened.

In a report filed by Lucia Maina, she said she received a call from her daughter on August 21 saying she and her two children needed food.

"I immediately went to my store and from my harvests, scooped 15 kilos of beans and 18 kilos of maize. I went to [the] Sabasaba matatu terminus and handed the relief as a parcel to KCW 004L operating under Namu Sacco and paid Sh100 as delivery charge," Ms Maina reported.

She gave her daughter the mobile phone contacts of the two crew members – Peter Kimani and Rose Mwangi – and the number plate of the vehicle. The consignment was to be delivered to Nairobi's Koinange stage.

By evening, the food had not been delivered and for more than a month now, "they have been promising to deliver it".

Ms Maina reported that she borrowed Sh2,000 and sent it to her daughter that evening to buy food when it became apparent that the matatu men would not deliver the food.

Accused officers

She accused officers at the Sabasaba Police Station, where she reported the incident, of taking her in circles.

"The station called the driver and his tout in my presence. They said the parcel [was] at their Nairobi Namu Sacco office and promised to have it handed over to my daughter, which is yet to happen," she said.

Every time she went to the police station to make a follow-up, she said, she would be taken in circles. Most recently, she was advised to let the matter go because "it appeared the matatu crew had lost the parcel".

Mr Shikondi said the matter had reached him and he had ordered that it be addressed conclusively by October 10.

Ms Maina told Nation.Africa on Wednesday – two days past the police boss's deadline – that the case had not been resolved.
On Thursday, she went back to the station to get an answer.

"I am on that case. We will now go after the two individuals who disappeared with the parcel," Mr Shikondi said.

Mr Shikondi confirmed that some of the incidents being investigated were recorded in Occurrence Book (OB) report reference 20/28/09/2022 at the Kenol Police Station.

One of the complainants is Maragua MP Mary wa Maua, who said the station was the equivalent of a criminal den.

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