Former police boss takes over at the GPO

Former police commissioner Major General Hussein Ali took up office as the new Postmaster-General on Monday with a glee of satisfaction and faith in his professional abilities.

To see him embark on his new duties was Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo, who said Maj-Gen Ali’s experience and training in the military would be a boon to the postal corporation, especially on logistical planning.

Maj-Gen Ali moves to the General Post Office from Vigilance House on a presidential appointment still dogged by controversy after his predecessor, Fred Ojiambo, moved to court demanding compensation for “wrongful dismissal” from service.

In a letter to Attorney General Amos Wako, Mr Ojiambo demands the equivalent of five months’ salary, amounting to Sh3.7 million, and another Sh1.4 million in pending agreed remuneration.

Maj-Gen Ali’s transfer is seen as an attempt to pave way for reforms in the police force, whose image has taken a beating in the wake of accusations of extrajudicial killings and rampant corruption.

At least three reports in two years had criticised the former police chief and called for his sacking, but he had survived them all.

His biggest nemesis appeared to have been the Waki and Prof Alston reports, but it is the Ransley findings that finished off his tenure at Vigilance, where he moved on April 5, 2004 to replace Edwin Nyaseda, becoming the first police chief in independent Kenya to come from outside the force.