Police officers have had a hectic time clearing their names before the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) vetting panel that has camped in a Kakamega hotel. The panel led by the chairperson of the National Police Service Commission Johnstone Kavuludi is undertaking a five-day vetting exercise on various officers from the wider western region.
Most of the questions sending chills down their spines rotate around M-Pesa transactions and huge bank deposits, and claims of corrupt transactions done through M-Pesa have left many without answers to the panel.
Constable Everlyne Cherono an officer based at the Vihiga traffic records office could not explain the M-Pesa transactions on her phone that amounted to sh6.3 million, transactions that took place within a year.
The National Police Service Commission panel that is undertaking the exercise at Kakamega’s Golf Hotel noted that constable Cherono had transacted the money between 2014 and 2015 while she was a traffic officer in Bungoma County.
It was further noted that between 2011 and now, numerous huge bank deposits had been made to her account, some of which she was unable to explain. It forced the panel led by Commissioner Murshid Mohammed to adjourn the vetting for hours to give her time go through the transactions and present her answers to the questions asked.
Cherono told the panel that she owns 10 dairy cows that are her source of income besides her job. She added that her husband, who is a banker, also deposits money in her account to cater for the family’s needs. She has been in the service for 12 years, mostly working as a traffic officer.
Corporal Hezekiah Nyamweya based at the Webuye police station in Bungoma county was asked to explain sh5.7 million that had been transacted between him and his colleague in less than a year.
Nyamweya, who requested that he be vetted before the camera, told the panel that he runs a workshop and besides, he sold his two pieces of land and saved the money acquired in his M-Pesa acquired.
He explained that he also sends some money to a couple of his colleagues. Though Kavuludi allowed him to be vetted before the camera, he warned him that he had tabled his request late.
For constable George Ochieng, an officer based at Kimilili police station in Bungoma, he was meant to explain money he had transacted via his M-Pesa, worth sh1.3 million. Ochieng is said to have transacted the said amount between 2012 and 2013.
He was further asked to define his relationship with a certain lady based in Nairobi, from whom he mostly receives money, a request he didn’t take kindly and told the panel that it was his personal life and did not want anyone to interfere. Ochieng, however, told the panel that he is a farmer and has invested in real estate besides his known job as an alternative source of income.