At around 2pm on April 20, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat spontaneously decides to drop everything he is doing at Vigilance House, the police headquarters, and take a casual walk around the Nairobi city centre.
It is a public holiday, so he is dressed down from the usual beige khaki uniform.
He is in a grey, peacock print shirt, black trousers and black shoes.
The walk was intended to kill two birds with one stone – take a breather from the heavy administrative work that usually consumes most of the hours in his long days, while doing a spot check on his juniors across the city.
Whenever there is a scheduled spot check, the uniformed Deputy Inspector-General would either be driven around the city or escorted by a large contingent of mean-looking, armed and charged police officers.
Not today. No chase cars, no armed bodyguards. Just a man and his two feet.
A Nation reporter was in tow, embedded in the tour, intended to show one of the most powerful police officers a raw copy of the city’s underbelly, when there is no scripted police operation.
At 2.15pm, Mr Lagat is navigating the meandering streets around Luthuli Avenue and Kirinyaga Road, including the dark alleys that usually trigger fear in most Nairobians.
Street after street, alley after alley, there are no uniformed police officers in sight.
Usually, police officers on leave are recalled during major holidays like Christmas and Easter, a sacrifice security agents make to ensure that Kenyans enjoy their festivities.
That usually ensures police presence at every possible corner to avoid any potential major crime incidents.
But in his tour of the city, Mr Lagat found little police presence, indicating that some officers may have taken French leave. This was a huge security lapse.
“Chief, are you sure we will not be attacked?” asked our reporter.
“Let’s see, let’s test the ground. I want to test if what I have been told is the truth,” replied Mr Lagat as he adjusted his cap and glasses.
From Vigilance House, we proceeded to the area around KTDA plaza, where our journey around the city started.
Unlike when in uniform, on this day, not many people around the city would recognize the second most powerful police officer.
Aside from the casual wear, a blue cap further aided in concealing his face, which his juniors would likely recognize easily.
For the next three hours, the police chief moved from Vigilance House, to OTC bus station through Kirinyaga road, and returned to the CBD through Globe Cinema roundabout.
At the junction of the Khoja mosque, we found a lone traffic police officer.
From his facial expression, Mr Lagat was not amused, as he could not see officers on the ground on a day when many Kenyans were travelling home for the Easter holidays.
At around 5.30PM, at the Java along Kimathi street, Mr Lagat was joined by a Mr Gichohi, the deputy police boss at Nairobi Central police station.
Mr Gichohi arrived in full uniform, shocked that his boss had gathered firsthand information about the security lapse, which could easily snowball into an embarrassing moment for the police if a major crime was committed.
However, Mr Lagat did not give Mr Gichohi a dressing-down. Instead, he offered him a cup of tea to cool the palpable tension in him.
For 20 minutes, Mr Lagat and Mr Gichohi discussed how to boost the police visibility in the CBD.
Within minutes, Nairobi was sprawling with men and women in the conspicuous blue police uniform, doing patrols in every corner.
Strangely, on the same day when Mr Lagat took the walk to Kirinyaga road, police at Central police station reported to have burst criminals peddling bhang in Lower Kirinyaga road.
A report on the operation stated that police officers had arrested five suspects along Kirinyaga road and recovered 160 kilograms of bhang from the suspects.
Police officers had extended their search for the narcotics to Karen and Huruma estates on the same day, the police report stated.
