Worrying involvement of security sector players in the underworld criminal activities

The Kenya’s security sector players has lately been high on national security agenda especially in pre-empting and forestalling terrorist threats, curbing proliferation of illicit arms and contraband goods all of which pose real and potential negative effects on the national safety, socio-economic and political stability of the country.

However, some of these criminal activities are promoted by rogue police officers by hiring their police operating gear: guns, uniforms, bulletproof vests, and handcuffs to criminals at a fee.

Indeed, various reports by the Internal Affairs Unit and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) continue to reveal police involvement in criminal activities.

Today, four rogue officers attached to Lang’ata Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were arrested by specialised Serious Crimes Unit detectives domiciled at Mazingira House for abducting and robbing a businessman Sh300,0000.

The will be arraigned on Monday to face robbery with violence charges on Monday.

According to the victim, they accosted him after requesting a taxi by the roadside at Nextgen Mall along Mombasa Road, and was forcefully bundled in a waiting Subaru, that had five occupants on February 6, 2022, at around noon and forcefully demanded money from him.

According to the detectives, whilst in the vehicle, the in-charge Corporal Tom Otieno forcefully transferred Sh40,000 from the victim’s Mpesa account to his Mpesa account.

They then proceeded to the victim’s apartment where they took a further Sh272,760, from him, before dumping him at Choma Zone located at Total petrol station along Mombasa Road, after a 2-hour ordeal.

The following day, the victim went to Akira police station to make his report, only to find the vehicle he had been bundled into parked at the station.

He immediately rushed to our headquarters where he reported his discovery at the Serious Crimes Unit.

Investigations were launched and the serious crimes detectives established that the vehicle indeed belonged to DCI Langata.

All the four officers who were involved in the criminal act have since been arrested and identified positively by the victim in an identification parade conducted this evening at the DCI headquarters.

The suspects are currently guests of the state, facing Robbery with Violence charges, contrary to Section 296 (2) of the Penal Code.

According to the civilian oversight body, complaints against police officers have increased by 83.4 per cent in a decade.

In a document presented to the Senate committee, IPOA said the cases have increased from 594 in 2012 to 3,583 by 2021.

Of the cases, 22 were filed during the Covid period.

Most of the complaints filed with the authority were deaths from police action, enforced disappearances, sexual offences, police inaction, abuse of office, physical assault and harassment.

“In the period under review, IPOA conducted 956 investigations. Some 200 investigation case files were forwarded to the ODPP for further processing, while 98 cases were before the courts as at June 30, 2021,” the document reads.

IPOA chairperson Anne Makori said that since inception, the number of investigations has increased from 27 to 956 as at June 2021.

Recently, an inquest by a Kakamega court recommended murder charges against four police officers and a bar owner suspected to have beaten a reveller to death.

The four officers – Musa Juma, Francis Kaimeti, Duncan Wafula and Michael Chergut – had testified that the deceased, Raymond Mulanda, jumped from a moving police pick-up while being taken to Kakamega Central Police Station.

However, Dr Dickson Mchana, the pathologist who examined the body, said in his report tabled in the course of the two-year inquest that the head injuries were because of “blunt force trauma following a fall from a height” which were not consistent with motion trauma as the officers in question testified.

Separately, six police officers are currently facing charges of the two Kianjokoma brothers  – Benson Ndwiga, 22, and Emmanuel Ndwiga, 19 who allegedly died in custody after being arrested for violating the curfew.

The brothers were last seen alive on August 1 when they were picked up by police for allegedly defying nationwide 10:00 pm curfew.

Their bodies were discovered two days later by family members at the local morgue in Embu County.

Police said the pair jumped from a moving vehicle, a claim rejected by their family after an autopsy revealed they had suffered injuries to their heads and ribs.

However, a post-mortem report concluded that the two were killed using a blunt object with multiple injuries on their heads.

Additionally, four police officer were jailed over the murder of Alexander Monson, the son of British aristocrat Nicholas Monson while in police custody.

Retired Chief Inspector Charles Wang’ombe Munyiri, Sergeant Naftali Chege, John Pamba and Ishmael Baraka Buluma were found guilty of negligence.

Chege was sentenced to 15 years in jail with a suspension of five years while Munyiri got 12 years with a suspended sentence of six years.

Buluma was sentenced to nine years with a five-year suspended term while Pamba was sentenced to 12 years with a six years’ suspension.

Pamba’s sentence is to commence this year in November because of his deteriorating health condition.

Early last month police inspector was arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) while masquerading as a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) official.

The officer reportedly extorted a liquor store operator in Thika.

In company of two others, he walked to Heisenberg Wines and Spirits where they did an ‘inspection’ and accused the owner of failing to issue Electronic Tax invoices to customers and selling products with fake excise stamps, after which they demanded for a hefty bribe.

However, two of the suspects managed to escape using a getaway car but the inspector was cornered.

It was established that the Inspector was a rogue cop on interdiction facing three court cases at the Nakuru and Milimani Law courts, for the offences of impersonating KRA officials.

In April last year, a documentary was aired on Citizen TV christened “Guns Galore” an expose that revealed how rogue police officers promote crime.

The Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG-K) condemned those criminal activities within the security sector, which undoubtedly degrade safety and security across the country.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that at least six people died in the first ten days of the dusk to dawn curfew.

In July, police arrested at least 50 activists in Nairobi and violently dispersed others who were protesting against police brutality since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.

Faced with inadequate budget allocation, witness withdrawal due to intimidation and non-cooperation by some suspect officers and their colleagues, Ipoa faces an uphill task in executing its mandate of instilling professionalism within the police service.

“Out of the 3,237 complaints, 84 per cent (2706) were from members of the public while 3.1 per cent (100) were from police officers,” reads IPOA’s annual report for the year ending June 2019.

According to Human Rights Watch, IPOA is handling more than 2,000 cases of police killings but has successfully prosecuted 13 officers with different conduct issues.

Records by IPOA, a civilian oversight body against police  further shows between January to June 2021, out of the  received and processed 1,324 complaints, 1051 cases comprised allegations of deaths and serious injuries (deaths in custody 21, death from police action 55, shooting causing injuries 15, enforced disappearance 12, unlawful discharge of firearms 2).

“The remaining 1,219 comprised negligence of duty, abuse of office, physical assault causing injuries, physical assault causing non-serious injuries, harassment, administrative issues, corruption, threats to life, arbitrary arrest, personal matters, malicious prosecution, contempt of court orders, destruction of property, sexual offences, detention of exhibits, refusal to refund cash bail and abusive language.” A report by IPOA shows.

This paints a grim picture of the level of breakdown within the police command structure.

In 2019, detectives at Central Police Station arrested two police officers over extortion and illegal detention of a driver attached to former National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.

In what manifest underworld gangland-style operations by rogue law enforcement agents, a Corporal of police Arimba Rioba Daniel alongside and his fugitive accomplice Police Constable Oliver Tambo both attached to Kamukunji Police Station were accused of obtaining money with menaces from Mohammed Kiptirim Arab Cheboi.

According to preliminary police investigations, Rioba and Tambo demanded Sh300, 000 to drop a case they claimed to have been investigating involving Kiptirim and the former CS.

The same year, a DCI officer attached to Central Police and a civilian were arrested in connection to stealing and extortion of Sh800,000 against a Malian national in Nairobi’s Kilimani area.

Kelvin Ndosi raided Bathily Abdoulaye house in company of four other police officers and stole Sh8000 US Dollars and other valuables.

The other officer is attached to Nairobi region CID offices.

Ndosi was part of six four police officer accused of kidnapping and torturing a civilian before robbing him of Sh291, 000 as he returned home in Nairobi.

They were part of a criminal network of a nine-man gang that works in cahoots with a former taxi driver to rob civilians especially after withdrawing money from the bank.

Two of those arrested are attached to Kayole Police Station and two others are attached to Nairobi Area CID office.