Investigate trail of bogus officer, Kibaki orders

President Kibaki has ordered investigations into the scandal of the mysterious man who was arrested and charged with impersonating a senior police officer.

A new team of independent investigators has been selected and is due to start work on Monday, the President Kibaki said through head of public service and secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia.

The team to be unveiled on Monday would be instructed to unearth a wide range of  the murky details surrounding the embarrassing saga.

“Security of a country is a crucial matter and the government will ensure it remains that way. Kenyans should be confident in their country. It’s a matter of grave shame and concern. Stern action including prosecution should be taken against those culpable,” said Mr Kimemia.

The accused, Mr Joshua Waiganjo, is alleged to have sacked and abused junior officers, and even attended top security meetings on various occasions over period of nearly 10 years he easily passed off as a top policeman.

He also donned police uniform, complete with insignia showing he was a senior assistant commissioner of police.

On Saturday, Rift Valley provincial police boss John M’Mbijiwe, who was named by the suspect’s father Ibrahim Waiganjo as his son’s close friend, spoke to journalists in Nakuru and denied such association.

“I’ve unearthed a major scandal which my predecessors have not been able to do as this fake police officer has  been operating in this province for more than 10 years and I therefore deserve a recommendation for a big a promotion,” said Mr M’Mbijiwe.

He added: “I’ve been here for only six months and surprisingly this fake cop has been working with various Provincial Police Officers and it is only after M’Mbijiwe has come that things have changed.”

Mr Kimemia further said the independent investigations would cover, among others, “commencement of operational activities of the fake policeman, who paid him, and gave him orders.”

Nakuru Human Rights Network chairman Mr Simon Sangale ole Nasieku urged Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to make a major overhaul of security personnel at the provincial headquarters, where Mr Waiganjo is said to have been operating.

Asked why it had also taken him six months to know  that the accused was a  criminal, Mr M’Mbijiwe said it was not the duty of the PPO to monitor the activities of junior officers.

However, he admitted that Mr Waiganjo accompanied senior police officers to Baragoi but that was within “the structures of his supplementary role as a police reservist”.

“Mr Waiganjo has never attended any other security meeting apart from Baragoi which was essentially a fact finding mission,” added Mr M’Mbijiwe.

He explained that the funeral he attended in Njoro for Mr Waganjo’s grandmother in Njoro public cemetery in August 2012, he did that just like any other person attending a funeral.

He said the accused was introduced to him by Mr Munyambu as the head of the head of the Kenya Police Reservist in charge of Rift Valley having been appointed by the then Commissioner of Police, Mathew Iteere.

Mr Iteere has since denied the allegations and said that during his tenure as Commissioner he never appointed anyone a reservist.

But  Speaking on Saturday on telephone, Mr Munyambu refused to be drawn into the controversy and referred the Sunday Nation to the Rift Valley Police headquarters for further comments.