49 Traffic police bosses face the sack after being found ‘unfit’
At least 49 top traffic police bosses could lose their jobs after they were found unfit to serve in the service by the National Police Service Commission following a vetting exercise that was conducted early this year.
The officers in the rank of Chief Inspectors in the traffic department, which has in the past been accused of rampant corruption, could soon be relieved of their duties.
The fate of the officers was sealed on Monday following an eight hour meeting by the National Police Service Commission headed by Johnstone Kavuludi.
The officers have been accused of operating a fleet of matatus across the country which, according to the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC), is in conflict with their mandate.
The senior officers are also alleged to be part of cartels in the transport sector which make it very difficult to punish traffic law offenders due to their connections with the high ranking police chiefs.
BRIBES
According to a local TV investigative report, the said officers are said to have received huge amounts of money in bribes running into millions of shillings from the matatus operators through mobile money transfer.
Three senior police officers who had also been deployed to head security in the public Universities following recommendation by the NSAC suffered a similar fate as well after they were rejected by the Ministry of Education.
In a letter to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Edward Mbugua the Ministry argued that the police officers were too senior (past the required Senior Superintendent police rank) to be accommodated under the current job group structure for security officers in the Universities.
The three affected are former GSU Commandant and Kiganjo Police College William Atswenje Saiya, Assistant Inspector General Peter Mwanzia and former Central Regional Police Chief Gedion Amalla.