Kinoti clashes with Mbugua as IG's first meeting ends in chaos

DCI chief George Kinoti and Deputy Inspector General Edward Mbugua clashed at a meeting called to discuss, among other things, corruption in the police service.

The Wednesday meeting at the National Police Service headquarters, Jogoo House, was called by Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai to discuss issues affecting police officers.

The meeting was also intended to build a working relationship between the DCI, Kenya Police and Administration police.

It was Mutyambai’s first meeting with senior police commanders since his recent appointment as third Inspector General of Police.

Senior police commanders, including regional police chiefs and senior DCI chiefs, attended.

Multiple sources at the meeting told the Star on Friday that Kinoti told the meeting chaired by Mutyambai that his officers were being harassed by general duty officers, who, he said, have gone to the extent of arresting and locking up fellow officers in cells.

Different speakers contributed. They sought to have the senior police command fix the frosty relationship between the DCI and the regular police.

Frosty Relationship

A source privy to the goings-on told the Star that DCI head of forensic investigations Ireri Kamwende was apprehensive that if the frosty relationship between the DCI and Kenya Police (regular police) was not addressed, the officers end up  shooting and killing each other. 

He is said to have called for swift action to save the service.

DIG Mbugua defended his officers. He said that numerous complaints against DCI officers had been lodged with the regular police.

To back up his claim, he is said to have called for a complaint files against DCI officers, which he handed over to Kinoti for action.

“It was a very heated matter with emotional sentiments, but the IG promised to end the bad blood between the DCI and regular police,” a senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Star.

Kinoti is said to have been angered by an incident in which officers from an elite police unit based at Parklands were disarmed and detained by police officers from the Kitengela police station at a roadblock in Kitengela town.

 The Parklands officers are said to have been escorting a lorry transporting ethanol from Tanzania. On reaching the Kitengela, they were detained by officers manning a roadblock. It took the intervention of senior DCI commanders to end the stalemate that almost resulted in a shootout.

Last Sunday, police officers in Migori arrested and locked up a DCI officer based at the Nairobi Central Police station. They accused him of using abusive language on two bar patrons in Migori town.

The said detective is also said to have threatened the Migori police station commander. 

Arrest incidents

He allegedly told him he would be transferred if he was arrested. The officers went ahead and arrested him before locking him up in a cell.

Another DCI officer based at the Nakuru DCI offices was arrested and locked up in Mumias after he was allegedly found drunk in a vehicle.

The said detective was also not wearing a safety belt when he was arrested by regular police officers manning a roadblock at Shianda  on Tuesday.

A man also identified as a DCI driver from Nakuru DCI offices was arrested together with his colleague and placed in cells following a commotion between the DCI officers and regular police officers manning the roadblock.

A police communication on the arrests of the DCI officers reported that they would be charged in court with, among other offences, resisting arrest and causing a disturbance.

DCI chiefs feel the regular officers under the command of Mbugua are victimising them and want them restrained. 

Mutyambai is expected to visit the DCI headquarters on May 2 for a meeting with DCI officers to hear their grievances.