AP spokesman Masoud Mwinyi among 63 officers sacked by vetting board

Police vetting body sacks 63 senior officers Administration Police (AP) spokesman Masoud Mwinyi is among 63 senior police officers who have been dismissed after failing in the recently held police vetting.

The vetting process, which began in June 2014, saw 1364 officers vetted, out of whom 1272 were cleared and 29 cases remain pending. Out of the 63 sacked officers, 32 are of the rank of Senior Superintendents of Police, 28 are Superintendents of Police while three are Assistant Senior Superintendents of Police.

Some of the sacked Kenya Police Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) include Mary Omari (Nakuru), Joseph Kipkemoi (Machakos), Rachel Kipsoi (Makueni), John Mutoro (Tharaka Nithi), Washington Njiiru (Taita Taveta), Julius Wanjohi (Mombasa), Martin Kariuki, Reuben Katithi and Dollyrose Oduor from Muranga County.

Senior Superintendent of Police in the Administration Police Service Daniel Mogembo (Nairobi) and Wambua Kisyungu (Nairobi) have also been sacked. The officers are accused of corruption, violation of human rights, human trafficking, unprofessional conduct and forgery of academic certificates.

Other cases include engaging in criminal activities, obstructing the course of criminal justice system, submission of fake bank statements and M-Pesa statements, failure to submit documents or information required by the commission. The 29 pending cases should be completed in the next 14 days.

The commission pointed at budgetary constraints and security concerns as major setbacks in the carrying out of the exercise.

Lack of funds, stated Kavuludi, impacted on the ability of the Commission to both conduct the vetting process and speed up the processing of results.

“It will be recalled that the vetting of officers in coast region was interrupted by the Mpeketoni terror attack barely after the process had started,” said Kavuludi.

“Owing to the delicate security situation, the commission subsequently suspended the vetting process until March 2015 in order not to compromise the National Police Service operations.”

Kavuludi stated that moving forward, police officers would be vetted on the basis of their formations and functions as opposed to the current rank-based approach.

He further noted that the vetting has unearthed a pool of talent and professionals within the police service including engineers, pilots, accountants, financial analysts, IT managers, forensic experts, veterinarians and teachers among others.

It has also been revealed that some of the officers with professional training and experience in various fields are performing duties outside their fields of specialisation in addition to exposing gaps and systemic weaknesses in human resource policies and regulations.

According to chairman of National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Johnston Kavuludi, an OCPD was found to have M-Pesa transactions of Sh7.7 million within 17 months with another constable at a weighbridge having collected Sh3.1 m in three months.

“Through a scrutiny of M-Pesa statements, the Commission was able to establish that junior officers working in traffic department regularly transferred fixed amounts of money to some of their seniors, suggesting they had been given targets,” said Kavuludi.

“It also emerged that most M-Pesa kiosks within and around police stations are either owned or contracted by police offices for purposes of facilitating direct money transfers in order to cover their tracks. The depositors are mostly motorists or junior officers making transfers to their seniors.”

Kavuludi revealed that the board would initiate the vetting of traffic police officers next in a bid to tame corruption in the police service.