Graft has crippled police effectiveness How serious is Kenya in - TopicsExpress

Graft has crippled police effectiveness How serious is Kenya in tackling growing corruption that is now institutionalized in many of our public institutions, when the agency that is charged the role to arrest and prosecute the culprits - the Police Force - is ranked the most corrupt? How, as the saying goes, do you set a rat to catch a rat? So institutionalized is the vice that Traffic Policemen and women extort and accept bribes from matatus, buses and other public service vehicles in broad daylight, giving the impression their bosses – Base Commanders to the to the very top, are in the deal. What else would embolden them to daringly and openly engage in the crime with no fear of arrest? The recent decision to allow Regular Police to join in the foolery on our roads further fuels this disturbing impression. In Nairobi and some of the major urban centres, some police officers in unmarked vehicles known to anyone keen to know, nightly roam roads and streets, especially in the suburbs, extorting money from pirate taxis and kiosks. At our borders and ports of entry, some of our men and women in uniform are no better, as they will readily allow into the country just about any one and anything – grenades, guns, ammunition and other contraband - as long as the bribe is right. Terrorists as those that bombed the US Embassy in mid-town Nairobi in August 1998, and many others that have, with impunity, carried out atrocities in the city, Mombasa, Wajir and Garissa may, for all we know, have accessed the country in this fashion. What of the scores of illegal Somali and Ethiopian nationals that are routinely captured within our borders on their way to either Nairobi, or further south to Tanzania and South Africa? How do they enter the country and go through the multitude of police road blocks before being detected deep in the country? Indeed, many of the detections have occurred at the Namanga border town, leaving observes wondering how the aliens manage to traverse the entire country before arrest. True, some of the aliens exploit the long porous Somalia and Ethiopia common borders. It’s also fact that many, if not most of them enter the country through official border points of in full glare of our border police. The consequence of this and more, has been the establishment and expansion of alien enclaves in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, South C, and their replicas commonly referred to as Garissa Lodges in many of the country’s urban centres. That some of the so called Garissa Lodges could well double up as cells for the likes of al Shabaab and other terror groups, is a possibility our law enforcement agencies had better wake up to in a hurry. The authorities also need to reintroduce the profiling of Somali nationals with investments in Kenya, to, among other things, ensure their non-involvement in money laundering, and links to al shabaab. The loud silence by the Inspector-General on the rot in the Police Service, has only gone to enhance the suspicion of wider involvement, given the fact the man has been very vocal on just about anything, but deadly silent on this critical issue. He now is bent on monopolizing police powers at the expense of the National Police Service Commission, thus reinstituting the old order that had been cast out with the old Constitution. Should Kimaiyo have his way, the Government will have no moral ground to oppose the police trade union that’s just gotten the nod from the Industrial Court of Kenya. He cannot have his cake and eat it. My advice to Mr Kimaiyo. If you’re serious in effectively tackling crime, move with speed to clean up the Police Service of corruption to seriously win public confidence and goodwill, as the National Police Service Commission and other relevant Government agencies address your officers’ terms of service, welfare, remuneration, tools of work, housing, insurance and others. The extra powers you seek will do little to enhancing the fight against crime other than nursing peoples’ bloated egos. Be that as it may, I sincerely congratulate and thank the many valued police officers who’ve stayed true to their oath of office, and discharged their enviable roles at great risk to their persons. Scores have tragically lost lives or suffered life threatening injuries. I implore and beseech them to keep the fight, with hope and prayer that the errant among your ranks, will see the light, repent and get back on track for the good of all concerned. Good luck. Frank Ojiambo Wanyama BestPractice Consultants Email: frankwanyama@gmail Phone: 0703453768