Village elders in Nakuru have now accused the government of neglecting them.
They claimed the government does not pay them despite the fact that they work hard to solve cases in their villages, in addition to making reports to the police about criminals in their areas.
Speaking to this writer in Nakuru Thursday, one of the village elders in Mohammed Ali Maguna also accused the police of dismissing them when they make the reports due to the fact that most of the cases they report are generally about petty crimes.
"The police don’t spend much of their time listening to you as much as the chiefs do. Most of the policemen don’t pay attention to us whenever we offer them information about the behaviour of certain individuals in the community," added Maguna.
According to him, lack of pay has led to increase in corruption especially by criminals who opt to bribe the elders in order for them to withhold information or to give wrong information.
"If at all we earned some pay, it would be hard to accept bribes. However, it reaches a point where you have no money and one of the accused decides to bribe you so that you can pass the wrong information. The only way you cannot be tempted is if you have income from elsewhere," he stated.
On the other hand, he termed some family members as a hindrance to their job as some of them end up discouraging them from continuing with their roles due to lack of pay.