99 chiefs are sent home for failing to fight lethal brews

Ninety-nine chiefs and their assistants were on Tuesday sent home, while 12 police commanders face a similar fate for frustrating efforts to rid the country of illegal alcohol as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said the officials were either habitual drunkards or had been abetting the distribution and sale of illicit drinks.

“Some officers mandated to fight this vice have been found to be abetting the consumption and distribution of these illicit brews. Unfortunately, some of these officers have become addicted while others have been found drunk while on duty instead of being on the forefront implementing the President’s directive,” said Mr Nkaissery.

President Kenyatta ordered the crackdown on illegal drinks two weeks ago and further directed the General Service Unit to be deployed to lead the crackdown in central Kenya, where the drinking problem is most prevalent.

The police officers facing dismissal include five divisional police commanders (OCPDs) and seven station commanders (OCSs).

Maj Gen (rtd) Nkaissery said: “So far, 99 chiefs and assistant chiefs have been dismissed, while the Inspector General of Police has taken drastic disciplinary action against 15 police officers and has advised the National Police Commission to complete the process as required by law.

“We are not going to go back on this fight. Anybody found to be abetting this will go home.”

Mr Nkaissery spoke at Harambee House, Nairobi, where he was accompanied by Mr Boinnet and NPSC Chairman Johnstone Kavuludi.

PICK LETTERS

The Nation independently established that the affected police officers had been summoned by the NPSC to pick letters informing them of their suspension.

The letters also ordered them to hand their offices and government property to their deputies, and respond in writing “to show cause” why they should not be dismissed from National Police Service.

Most of the affected officers are from Kajiado, Kiambu and Murang’a counties.

Investigations had unearthed an unholy alliance between some police commanders and dealers in illicit alcohol.

Unscrupulous dealers paid “protection fees” so that the commanders would turn a blind eye on their businesses.

In other cases, police commanders either owned liquor dens or were distributors of the illegal drinks.

Earlier in the day, police raided a Nairobi County yard and impounded over 70,000 litres of methanol, a key ingredient used by unscrupulous traders to make killer drinks.

Kilimani police commander Peter Kattam said officers were acting on information that its owners had hidden the chemical there so that it could not be confiscated in the ongoing war against illegal drinks.

The methanol was contained in 300 drums packed in three lorries, which were also impounded.

Officials at the City Inspectorate Training department in Dagoretti, where the raid took place, remained mum during the police raid.