4 Police Officers Arrested Along Thika-Garissa Highway With Ksh.12K Suspected Bribes
The proverbial forty days for the four traffic police officers at a roadblock along the Thika-Garissa highway came on Saturday afternoon.
After nearly two weeks of covert surveillance of the officers at work, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers pounced on the officers, catching them with their Ksh.12,000 loot for the few hours they had been at the roadblock.
Tens of folded notes, glaring evidence of the illegal activities the officers allegedly engage in at this roadblock
Indeed, the arrests come in response to complaints from motorists using this road who claimed that the officers manning this roadblock have turned it into a cash cow, collecting bribes from just about any motorists deemed to be guilty of a traffic offense.
The police officers were caught on camera repeatedly taking bribes from motorists flagged down at the roadblock.
A video obtained by PoliticalPulseChat shows a public service vehicle being flagged by a police officer. In what appears to be routine and expected, the officer moves towards the vehicle, and in a flash, the driver hands him something, that he proceeds to pocket and waves the driver on his way, there is no inspection of the vehicle for any offense.
The same scene is replayed time and again, from PSVs to personal vehicles, the drill is the same; a vehicle is stopped, the exchange happens and the journey continues.
Corruption on Kenyan roads is not something new, a fact acknowledged even by the Inspector General of police Japhet Koome as recently as two weeks ago.
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“Hiyo shida iko, tusikizane tu, hiyo shida ya hongo iko haitakuwa vizuri mdogo anachukua anapelekea corporal, base commander, inaenda kwa OCPD, it is being said hata IG anapelekewa,” the police boss said.
While effecting the arrests, the EACC has in the past attributed the rising cases of bribery on the roads to faulty systems that make bribe-taking attractive for those caught breaking traffic rules.
“We need to streamline the system and automate the offenses and people have no way to bribe the police, the public also has a role to play, because we are a kiboko society,” EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak says.
Elsewhere, in Kisumu, EACC officials also arrested inspector of police Joash Rotich for demanding a Ksh.500,000 bribe to withdraw fabricated charges against a complainant, his wife, and daughter.
The complainant, a transporter, had his goods, destined for South Sudan detained by the inspector on allegations that they were stolen.
The inspector agreed to take Ksh.200,000 shillings and was immediately arrested after receiving the bribe.
He is set to be charged once investigations are complete.
4 Police Officers Arrested Along Thika-Garissa Highway With Ksh.12K Suspected Bribes