TRAFFIC OFFICER QUIZZED ON SH100M M-PESA TRANSACTIONS

Sergeant Boniface Kyalo Muthini appears before the National Police Service Commission vetting panel on May 25, 2016 at the Kenya School of Government in Mombasa. The officer was taken to task over transactions close to Sh100m in his mobile transfers between 2012 to date. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA  

The shocking rot in the police department continued to unfold on Thursday as it emerged that an officer transacted more than Sh35 million on his M-Pesa account in one year.

A panel of the National Police Service Commission was shocked to learn that Sergeant Boniface Kyalo Muthini had transacted close to Sh100 million through his M-Pesa account from 2012 to date.

Mr Muthini, the officer-in-charge of crime at Rabai Police Station could not account for the huge sums in and out of his M-Pesa account.

“That is a lot of money to be handled by yourself alone,’’ commission chairman Johnstone Kavuludi told the officer.

“You could be having 10 personal assistants for this kind of work to be carried out. I am afraid that is what we have observed,” Mr Kavuludi told Mr Muthini during his vetting.

However, in his defence, Mr Kyalo said all his financial transactions are done through M-Pesa, because he worked far from his home.

“I also received a loan from the police Sacco in 2013, which was almost a million shillings. I transacted it all through M-Pesa. I have used M-Pesa to pay for most of my work since I work far from home and wouldn’t make it there every now and then. You may have seen some bigger amounts but it is from a longer period,” said Mr Kyalo on the third day of the vetting at the Kenya School of Government in Mombasa.

“You are likely to be concentrating on M-Pesa at the expense of Police work. Because M-Pesa seems to have taken the better of your time, right?” asked Mr Kavuludi.

MISTRESSES

During the sessions, some officers admitted to keeping mistresses in their counties of operation to whom they sent huge sums of money through M-Pesa.

The commission also learnt that at least 95 per cent of the officers have mistresses around their stations and the country.

Commissioner Ronald Musengi sought to know why most of them kept mistresses with whom “surprisingly, you transact millions of shillings through M-Pesa”.

One of the officers, who admitted to having a mistress, defended himself and his colleagues, saying the long distance between them and their spouses contributed to the vice.

“Sir, we live far away from our wives and they cannot readily meet our needs. As men, we need to have these things. The mistresses keep us going,” he said causing laughter in the vetting hall.

An M-Pesa transaction statement from one of the officers indicated that he had transacted more than Sh570,000 with a mistress recently.

Commissioner Musengi put the officer to task to explain how he managed to maintain his concubine’s in “financial luxury” when his monthly salary was only Sh40,000.

He said it was only through God’s miracle.

The officers also said they had opened businesses for their mistresses, operating jointly, or let the concubines manage them as sole directors.

Commissioners Musengi, Murshid Mohamed and Coast Regional Commander Francis Wanjohi put the officers to task for operating businesses, which as police officers, they are prohibited by law from carrying out.

This was after it emerged that they owned matatus and other unsanctioned businesses.

Several M-Pesa transactions also took place between senior and junior officers, which the policemen had difficulty in justifying.

CREDIT: NMG