Police officers from the traffic department in the Rift Valley region were on Tuesday caught in between a rock and a hard place as they struggled to explain their source of wealth. This included huge amounts of money in their bank and M-Pesa accounts as the vetting by the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) kicked off in Nakuru.
Most of the officers interviewed could not explain irregularities in M-Pesa transactions, academic qualifications, facilitation fees and misuse of government vehicles at the probe conducted in one of the town's hotel.
The shocking rot in the Traffic Police department reared its ugly head on the first day of the vetting being conducted by a panel chaired by NPSC chairman Mr Johnstone Kavuludi.
A shocked panel put various officers to task over huge M-Pesa transactions running into millions of shillings, which they could not explain.
The first officers who were vetted included chief inspectors Kennedy Rucho, Polycap Ochieng and Peter Katheka, all driving test examiners.
They were hard pressed to account for huge sums moved in and out their M-Pesa accounts.
“The M-Pesa records with the panel reveal shocking transactions an officer depending on his salary cannot raise. They are questionable ” said Commissioner Ronald Musengi.
“You could be having several personal assistants for this kind of work to be carried out. I am afraid that is what we have observed,” Mr Musengi told Ochieng during his vetting.
Mr Ochieng was asked to explain why he received Sh384, 000 from his fellow officer Mr Rucho, and his response was that the money was part of proceeds from a joint maize business and cyber café that they run with four other officers in Eldoret town.
He contradicted Mr Rucho who had earlier upon appearing before the panel had said that the transactions were as a result of a joint business of rearing and selling guinea fowls.
Mr Musengi brushed off the excuse wondering how the 25 birds Mr Rucho claimed they owned could result to the fictitious transactions they were involved in.
According to the wealth declaration forms most of the officers submitted in 2015, it emerged that a number of officers especially those from the driving test department engaged in illegal activities that involved unexplained huge transactions of cash running to millions of shillings.
The vetting process enters it's second day today.