Police officer says his only asset is a hut

A traffic police officer on Thursday told a vetting panel that he only owns a hut on his father’s land in his rural home despite serving for 15 years.

Constable Donald Ojijo of Kisumu Police Base said the only property he can boast of is a simba (cottage) in Kendu Bay.

Commissioner Mary Owuor, the panel chairperson, said she was surprised to see his bank account reading negative.

“How can you be lacking assets yet you have been earning a salary every month for 15 years? Kindly explain why your bank account is reading negative Sh376,000?” Mrs Owuor asked.

The father of two, a boy and a girl, explained that he had not made any investments because he has many dependants.

He said he borrowed Sh750,941 in 2014 for his personal upkeep and bought a Toyota van worth Sh1.1 million, which he insured under the third party cover.

Asked why he had not declared the vehicle, Mr Ojijo said: “My driver had parked the vehicle along the Kisumu-Nairobi road but when he went for it the following day, it was missing.” But he said his wife owns a beauty salon and a boutique in Kisumu’s Migosi Estate.

Despite his dire financial situation, the vetting panel heard that Mr Ojijo was able to lend his colleagues money and bail out others in need of financial aid and that he had sent Sh604,251 to his seniors Evans Okuto and David Mwaniki.

“The money I sent to Okuto was payment for a pick-up I had hired from his relative, which I had used to transport maize my wife and I were selling,” Mr Ojijo told the National Police Service Commission vetting panel at the Tom Mboya Labour College.

When pressed by Mrs Owuor to explain why the cash was not sent directly to the vehicle owner, Mr Ojijo said that was the agreed mode of transaction and he could not tell if his senior was earning a commission from the relative.

During the same session, Constable Timothy Wasikhu of Bahati Police Station, failed to account for his Sh15 million net worth.

The commissioners said whatever sources of income, Mr Wasikhu had declared fell short of the Sh15 million he had said he was worth.

The officer said he owns a car hire business, which is his main source of income.

He was asked to explain why Sh207,000 was deposited into his account in June 2013, Sh104,000 in August of the same year and another Sh40,000 in December.

“I make up to Sh50,000 every month form my car hire business. The payments in question were made by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission after I had leased them my vehicle to it during the last General Election and it was paid through my bank account,” said Mr Wasikhu.