Bribe complaints lead to banning of road blocks

The National Police Service has again banned roadblocks and static police checks across the country, following numerous complaints over traffic officers’ collection of bribes from motorists.

In addition to this, any complaint made against a traffic officer by the public will be investigated and stern action taken against the officer, in efforts to enforce discipline among traffic police.

These are among the resolutions made at a traffic management meeting attended by Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai, Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua and the traffic commandant late last week.

A circular that followed the meeting noted that the IG had observed that traffic commanders have not swung into action by taking immediate action against errant officers since bribes are still being collected on the roads as is evident from numerous complaints being received at his office.

The police leadership has in the past banned roadblocks on highways, with the exception of mobile patrols and security operations following similar complaints, but somehow the road blocks keep coming back.

Collecting bribes

Last week, Ainabkoi Traffic sub-base was disbanded for continued road blocks, detaining vehicles for long hours without cause and complaints of officers collecting bribes from motorists with impunity, despite earlier directives issued for traffic management.

Now, all county police commanders will be directly responsible for close supervision of traffic management in their jurisdictions and also in ensuring that no motor vehicles are detained on the roads for long hours and that bribes are not taken from motorists.

“Should complaints be raised by the public on the above four items, investigations will be conducted to avoid victimisation. However, when an element of truth will be established, stiff action will be taken against the individual errant officer, but the whole sub-base will be disbanded,” the circular issued to all county police commanders stated.

A meeting to review the progress of this directive will be held this week.

While cases of officers demanding bribes happen daily, police spokesperson Bruno Shioso, in a publicised opinion piece, noted that some are aided by motorists who violate traffic rules such as overlapping in traffic and evade arrest, leading to an ingrained culture of impunity.

“Ingenious traffic violators opt to induce the officer to look the other way. Unfortunately, this behaviour has become a syndicated road culture that affords a road villain the undeserved freedom to once more offend … yet, such ugly nuisances don’t negate the overall and divine objective of the traffic cop on the roads. Without their presence, we are doomed. We simply can’t and won’t move and this is the fact,” wrote Mr Shioso.

On August 18, four officers from Ruiru Police Station were in the dock at the Kiambu Law Courts for extorting Sh1,030 from a citizen while enforcing the 10pm-4am curfew.

The victim, a Ruiru resident, took to social media to narrate his experience at the hands of police after he was arrested shortly past 10pm for violating the curfew.

He said one of the officers took his phone and asked for his M-Pesa Pin. The officer then proceeded to check the amount available on his phone before transferring Sh1,030 to a number registered under the name Martin Ndichu Kamau.

According to the resident, the police officer then deleted the message confirming the transfer to prevent the owner from reversing the transaction. Usually, Safaricom subscribers can reverse an M-Pesa transaction by sending the confirmation text to 456.

Confidentiality

“I had no other money on me and was forced to spend the night in my office. Taking control of my phone and demanding the Pin is a violation of my privacy, data and confidentiality,” he said in the post.

In his post, the victim then called on Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai to discipline the officer involved.

“Sh1,030 is too little, but to my family, it was a meal, shelter, security and assurance of a better day ahead,” he added.

The complaint caught the attention of senior police commanders in Kiambu who ordered an investigation into the incident, including retrieving data from Safaricom, which linked four officers to the incident.

The complainant filed a report at Kiambu police station via OB number 17/17/8/2021 after which investigations commenced, leading to the arrest of constables Thomas Agumba Okuku, Lawrence Mbau, James Munyoki Mulei and Dan Keya.

The four were arrested alongside an M-Pesa shop owner and his attendant to aid in investigating the officers' conduct.

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