Lawyer seeks to have police officers removed from highways
Nakuru lawyer, Bernard Kipkoech Ngetich.
Police Inspector-General Hillary Mutyambai is facing an imminent lawsuit over alleged misconduct among his officers on highways.
Nakuru-based lawyer Bernhard Kipkoech Ngetich has threatened to sue the National Police Service for compensation over what he called unlawful arrest, torture and malicious prosecution of motorists on the Nakuru-Kericho highway.
In a July 21 letter to Mr Mutyambai, Mr Kipkoech claims the officers have converted roadblocks into avenues for extorting bribes from motorists while inconveniencing them through unlawful arrests and malicious prosecutions.
Mr Kipkoech, a former Law Society of Kenya council member, claims to have been a victim of police impunity on the road, saying he had been harassed several times.
He said he was flagged down twice on his trips between Nakuru and Kericho, arrested, tortured, detained and charged in court in Molo for driving above 50km/h.
In one incident, on December 19, 2020, Mr Kipkoech said, he was flagged down by officers at the Mau tea area and detained for two hours for driving above 50 km/h in Kedowa town.
In the second incident, on June 22, he was flagged down at Salgaa trading centre for allegedly driving above the speed limit in the Sobea area on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.
The lawyer said the speed signs only showed the beginning of the 50km/h zone but did not indicate the end.
He said the impunity with which he was handled in both incidents left him traumatised and disturbed.
“The police cannot enforce excess speed which does not exist or exists in utopia as the Kenya National Highways Authority has not erected any signs in the said areas where the speed should be observed,” stated the lawyer.
He wants the IG to admit liability within 14 days and adequately compensate him for violation of his constitutional rights, illegal arrest and detention, false imprisonment, gross abuse of the process and injury to his reputation.
He also wants the IG to direct police commanders to remove officers from highways.
“By copy of this letter the Chief justice and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions are moved to end the impunity visited shamelessly on the road users in relation to the same spots,” stated the letter.
