Blow to Stephen Soi as Kavuludi team shuts his appeal

Team Kenya Chef-de-Mission to Rio Olympics Stephen arap Soi is no longer an officer in the National Police Service (NPSC), the commission has said.

The commission also said it will not review its decision to dismiss him from service. .

According to the commission, Mr Soi, an assistant commissioner of police, has reached the mandatory retirement age for police officers of 60 years.

NPSC Communication Manager Patrick Odongo on Wednesday said Mr Soi was dismissed from the service in 2004 after vetting but he sued and obtained a court order compelling the commission to review its decision.

"In complying with the court order, the commission scheduled the officer for a review interview in July this year," Mr Odongo said.

He said the officer, through his lawyer, wrote to the commission indicating that he would not attend the review as he would be away in Rio, de Janeiro, Brazil, until August 29.

He said the NPSC noted that by the time of his return, the officer had retired upon reaching the age of 60 and was not an officer of the National Police Service.

Mr Soi is among two National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) officials being investigated over allegations that the might have contributed to the loss of funds and kits and the general mismanagement of Team Kenya during the Rio games.

Soi, Nock secretary-general Francis Paul Kanyili and Team Kenya general manager Pius Ochieng were on Monday released on a cash bail of Sh200,000 each pending the conclusion of the investigations.

According to the NPSC, Mr Soi was among 59 officers dismissed from the police service in 2004.

He sued challenging his removal and was among the 59 officers reinstated in 2013.

An NPSC vetting panel found him unfit to serve, saying that he was “insincere, temperamental and inconsistent."

"He at one time shot a member of the public and in a separate incident assaulted a police constable," Mr Odongo said.

"He was vetted and found unsuitable to serve," Mr Odongo said in a statement on Wednesday.

The NPSC vetting panel found out that Mr Soi was insincere, temperamental and inconsistent.

"He at one time shot a member of the public and in a separate incident assaulted a police constable," the NPSC communication boss explained.

At the vetting, Mr Soi is said to have linked his tribulations to tribalism even though his conduct was unbecoming.

"His gross professional misconduct clearly depicts him as a violator of human rights," the commission maintains.

On his part, NPSC chairman Johnston Kavuludi said: "The info is correct and sourced from the NPSC files in Nairobi. I don't want to comment on it as there are other matters on the officer in court."