Iteere announces transfer of traffic police officers

By Cyrus Ombati

More than 600 traffic police officers have been moved in a single largest reshuffle announced at the police headquarters.

The traffic personnel have been deployed to general duties in the changes that saw some of the police checks in the country closed over what authorities termed as corruption.

Commissioner of police Mathew Iteere is said to have been angered by claims that some of the officers had turned the checks into “illegal toll stations.”

The 615 personnel were moved in the changes announced on Wednesday. They will be replaced by 400 others who had been undergoing training on traffic matters.

Commissioner of police Mathew Iteere(PHOTO:FILE/STANDARD)

Some officers especially in Nairobi said the action could affect operations given the newcomers will take time to learn on how to control traffic in general.

“Nairobi is a complicated place and you need to be taken through orientation to know where to control and at what time,” said one officer who asked not to be named.

The move came days after all the personnel in the department were directed to submit details on their bank accounts.

The directive was aimed at confirming claims by some juniors in traffic that some of their seniors had been demanding bribes to enable them continue staying in the section.

The investigations are ongoing. Police headquarters termed the changes normal arguing some of the affected officers had stayed in their stations for more than five years.

“There is a policy that personnel are supposed to rotate after three years and the changes were normal affecting them,” said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.

But insiders said the changes were triggered by discoveries that there had been ‘unofficial corruption among the junior personnel and senior ones’, a claim Kiraithe denied.