Corrupt officers walk free as ‘public shuns reporting’
Corporal David Chumo, a traffic officer in Bomet County, responds to questions during vetting at Tom Mboya Labour College on June 10, 2016. The vetting seeks to weed out corrupt and inept officers especially from the traffic department because it is deemed most corrupt in the service. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- In Nairobi, 874 are targeted for vetting next month and thereafter this will be conducted in the remaining parts of the country.
Corrupt traffic police officers may go scot-free because the public failed to give crucial evidence against them during investigations.
“Members of the public want action to be taken against errant police officers but shy away from filing complaints or swearing affidavits when called upon to do so thus undermining the vetting process. A case in point is the vetting of traffic officers,” says a report by the National Police Service Commission.
The commission called 257 traffic officers for scrutiny during the exercise in Nyanza, western and Coast in May and June.
In Nairobi, 874 are targeted for vetting next month and thereafter this will be conducted in the remaining parts of the country.
The report adds: “One would have thought that because of the many allegations of harassment and bribery against them, that there would be an avalanche of complaints to assist in their vetting, but this has not been the case.”
The vetting seeks to weed out corrupt and inept officers especially from the traffic department because it is deemed most corrupt in the service.
Police have gained notoriety for constantly being on top of Transparency International’s corruption perception index, says the report.
