Pangani-based crime buster Rashid Ahmed has not been transferred to Northeastern, according to police spokesperson Charles Owino.
Owino told the Star that the officer is doing a good job ridding Nairobi, more so the Pangani-Mathare area, of criminals.
Owino said the officer “has done a good job in combating crime in the city, to the extent that now you can drive your car safely.”
Ahmed has been condemned by civil society groups for "his heavy handedness, brutality and elimination of criminals in cold blood".
Civil society lobbyists say he and his team of five officers based at Pangani police station summarily execute suspects instead of subjecting them to due prosecution process.
But Owino said that save for a few “issues”, Ahmed is an excellent worker.
He said the agitation against him was being pushed by people linked to the gangsters being flushed out.
Social Justice Centres Working Group co-convener Wilfred Olal told the Star that 33 extrajudicial execution complaints have been filed against the officer at the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa).
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji said he had received an investigation file against the officer from Ipoa. However, he had sent it back for further investigations and also for loose ends to be tied up.
"They are yet to act of it," Haji told the Star.
On Monday, Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai confirmed on live television show that Ahmed's file is with Ipoa.
He was non-committal about his transfer to Habaswein in Northeastern.
Social media reports had indicated that the crime buster had been shoved to the far off station.
Owino painted a dim picture of Nairobi before the officer was brought in.
“This officer is very popular in Eastleigh and Mathare because he has managed to weed out marauding criminal gangs in the informal settlements,” he said.
According to him, "if a vote was held in the area on whether the officer should remain or moved, 98 per cent of the residents would support his stay. The two per cent against him would probably be the criminals he is up against."
He said those against the officer were yet to encounter the mean and violent criminals of the city.
"You are young and did not see how criminals and robbers ruled the streets of Nairobi years back. People who know how these criminals behave appreciate the work police officers do," Owino said.
- mwaniki fm
