Thursday, February 9, 2012

City police nab bogus council askaris



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CITY police yesterday arrested 11 suspects who are alleged to have been masquerading as City Council of Nairobi askaris. There has been an upsurge of complaints from city residents claiming harassment, forceful arrest and extortion from council askaris in the recent past. Interestingly, of the 11, two are serving council employees, five are former employees of the council who were sacked for on related offences in the past while four of their accomplices are not employees of the council.
The suspects were locked up at Central Police Station awaiting arraignment in court. Town clerk Philip Kisia termed the arrest as a major breakthrough in the fight against impersonation of council askaris. The assistant town clerk in charge of reforms, Daniel Masetu said the two council employees had deserted their work stations and sneaked into the Central Business District allegedly to extort money from the business community and pedestrians. “One of the suspects, Benson Mwangi Gakunda is based at the council's Inspectorate Department's Training School in Dagoretti but he does not report at his duty station, preferring to return to the city centre for reasons best known to him,” Masetu said.
The other is Ishmael Kibet who is attached to Uhuru Highway to monitor snatchers who steal from motorists along the busy highway. The operation, which was led by the Central CID boss Erick Mugambi and the council's Inspectorate assistant director Gedion Musa, also nabbed Amos Ngetich, an employee on suspension and former employees Ezra Oruko, Robert Onyoni, Cosmas Mutua and Erastus Mbae who were sacked for malpractices.
The others arrested are Philip Juma, Henry Asava, Pater Masamba and Daniel Gathii who were found in possession of fake council identification cards. Last year, Nairobi police boss Anthony Kibuchi said he intends to have the city inspectorate department put under his watch to tame rogue city council askaris.

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