On Thursday, March 13, an Inspector of Police in Nairobi was given a sentence of two years in prison or a Ksh550,000 fine by an Anti-Corruption Court.
This came after she was found guilty of illegally facilitating the release of two suspects from police custody by soliciting and accepting a bribe of Ksh10,000.
The official was found guilty on two counts of taking a bribe, in violation of Sections 6 and 18 of the Bribery Act, by Principal Magistrate Isabellah Barasa.
The prosecution told the court that on April 25, 2021, the Inspector at Nairobi’s Kasarani Police Station asked for a Ksh10,000 bribe while working her shift.
The money, according to the prosecution, was given to the defendant in return for securing the illegal release of a woman and a man who had been held at the police station.
The police officer was sentenced after the prosecution used nine witnesses to support their case throughout the court hearings.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detained the inspector on April 25, 2021, for soliciting a bribe. This occurrence is the basis for the officer’s case.
After the complainant brought the issue to the attention of EACC officers, who launched an investigation, she was taken into custody.
When EACC detectives announced her arrest to the public, they disclosed that the police officer’s arrest was authorized by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who agreed with the accusations made against her.
The suspect was processed at the Integrity Centre Police Station in Nairobi in July 2023, after which he was arraigned and freed on cash bail.
In the meantime, an audit and research report detailing the extent of bribery and corruption in the National Police Service (NPS) was released by the EACC on February 10.
According to the research, between 2022 and 2023, the average bribe amount given to traffic and regular police officers rose by 84.2% and 39.1%, respectively.
The Commission claims that the average cost for a service from the regular police was Ksh11,115, whilst the average cost for a service from their traffic counterparts was Ksh7,000.
A Kenyan seeking a police abstract paid an average of Ksh20,000 in 2023, up from Ksh2,000 in 2022, according to the audit.
