www.Kisii.Com: Syndicated news from only reputable sources [Nation, and Standard Newspapers, Kenya Times, KBC, etc.]
Graft claims mar police recruitment in Gusii
- Details
- Published on Monday, 04 June 2007 00:06
Hardly 90 applicants were recruited for the nine-m
onth training at Kiganjo for regular police service and at Embakasi for the General Service Unit.There are allegations that recruiting officers used brokers to solicit bribes from the applicants for the 30 slots allocated to each district. It is claimed they were demanding between Sh100, 000 and Sh200, 000 per vacancy. But word leaked to Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and he reportedly acted by withdrawing the officers who were assigned for the area.
They were taken to other stations and new officers posted at the last minute. Unsuccessful applicants protested that they had been excluded to increase chances for the preferred candidates. Dorothy Nyaboke Abuga, who met the requirements, was rejected because her certificates bore initials whereas her ID had her full names.
Her father, Mr Thomas Abuga, challenged the officers to arrest her daughter if they thought her documents were not genuine. "I have reported this matter and I’ve written a demand letter to the Commissioner of Police for an explanation why my daughter was dismissed on flimsy grounds," Abuga said.
An English teacher with a Bachelor of Education degree, who identified himself only as Kefa, was disqualified for reportedly failing in dictation. "This is not possible. He repeated it twice before we started writing. Some of my students actually passed while I failed," Kefa said. Another female applicant was chased from the exam room because she had a mobile phone.
Although Ali had invited journalists and political leaders to observe and record any anomaly, 20 councillors and journalists were ordered out of the recruitment centre at Nyamira Technical Secondary School. Mokomoni ward councillor Peterson Nyokwoyo and nominated councillor Joel Atuti were suspicious when they were told to leave the venue. "Why are they chasing us out of the field? Unless they have underhand deals, as leaders we should witness every level of the exercise," Atuti said. But Nyamira Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD), Mr Aggrey Okungu, absolved the recruiting panel, which was chaired by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Philip Kuimur, of any wrongdoing.
"I was present during the recruitment and we only wanted to separate parents from the applicants to avoid lobbying, which could have hampered the exercise," Okungu says.
But a successful applicant who asked not to be named said corrupt panellists might have capitalised on the ignorance of successful candidates who were selected on merit to swindle them of their money on the pretext that they would assist them secure jobs. "Personally I did not part with anything but I was made to understand later that some of my lucky colleagues bribed the officers. But I believe the exercise was fair," the applicant, who will undergo his training at Embakasi, told The Sunday Standard. In Kisii, a traffic police officer claims that he paid Sh100, 000 to secure a vacancy for his brother. Okungu maintains the exercise was fair dismissing the bribery allegations as "rumours in town". "Let anybody who bribed register his complaint with the police and report any officers involved," Okungu said.
Although the OCPD gives this year’s recruitment a clean bill of health, parents are questioning why a senior police officer hosted the officers for lunch at his house, where it is believed money-changed hands. A National Security Intelligence Services officer who followed the exercise under cover confided that unless more vacancies are allocated to the districts, bribery would continue because local people are highly qualified and are ready to bribe to get the few vacancies. Each of the three districts, sources said, was allocated 30 slots each but the highest took 29. There are no official avenues for redress for those who felt they were locked out unfairly.
The exercise, which started at 8am, ended well past 1am and questions are being asked why it was conducted overnight. Tales of frustration by potential police recruits abound whenever police carry out a recruitment exercise. Following the recent controversial one, The Sunday Standard carried out a survey in various parts of Kisii and recorded many complaints and instances of malpractice. The experience of a Bachelor of Science graduate, who sought anonymity, is typical to many who feel that they were left out of the recruitment irregularly.
"After struggling with my for three years looking for a white colour job, I decided to try my luck with the police force. I passed through all the stages involved and all the officers I saw gave me a clean bill of health for I met all the conditions. I was almost confident of joining the police force at the rank of senior police inspectors, but little did I know the shock that awaited me. After being cleared and only waiting to sign my admission forms, one of the officers asked me to see him "kando".
"He whispered to me that my place was likely to be given out unless I talked ‘na wezee’. I was surprised and when I asked what he meant he told me to get Sh3,000 for ‘wazee’s’ tea because the evening was chilly. "Since I was alone and had no cash on me, I was simply ejected from the room and told to try another time without any other reason being given to me." We also spoke to a recruit who was given an admission letter by a District Commissioner at his residence at night. The recruit recalled how after being introduced to the administrator, he failed at all other stages but was advised to show up at the medical testing unit. He was cleared with ease given that the medics knew about him.
