We saw a uniformed police officer balancing his 75, or thereabout kilos on the neck of a young man against a concrete pavement in Industrial area the other day.
It is however not only on the drinking front that the two bruise off. A Lang’ata base officer was left nursing a torn lip and face injuries after he tried to separate two ?ghting men one of them a soldier in Southlands estate.
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“These ‘checks’ on the police have helped shape the conduct of police operating around barrack like is case with Nanyuki town,” said Farouk Haji a Nanyuki resident.
A police constable in the town could attest: “You never know when you are arresting a brother, wife or son of a Major or a Warrants Officer in town. So you have to be cautious lest you arrest him and they (soldiers) collect them from the cells at will. You have to be careful and act professionally,” says the police constable.
“Worse, try arrest or date their women.”
In the towns bars police men have been made to leave or speak less when soldiers speak and have suffered beating with nowhere to report.
But it was Eldoret West OCPD Samuel Mutunga’s testimony in court that can capture the real frustration the police undergo before the military.
A crestfallen Mutunga last month told a magistrate that he had no option but release 132 suspects who had fake calling letters to Eldoret’s Recruits Training School (RTS) after his efforts to investigate the forgery failed.
He blamed the KDF for not assisting with notes and other leads to help him prepare charge sheets for the fake recruits.
His attempts to question personnel in the barracks linked to the letters were fruitless, he said.
The police could not be allowed inside a barrack where some of the letters were allegedly drawn because they were regarded as “raia” (civilian).
“How can a raia question KFD?” a soldier posed.