A meeting of senior police chiefs among them DCI George Kinoti and Deputy Inspector General Edward Mbugua, resulted in a heated exchange between the two.
The meeting was convened and chaired by the new Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai on Wednesday at the National Police Service headquarters, Jogoo House.
It was aimed at creating a working relationship between the DCI, Administration Police and regular police. Also on the agenda were issues affecting police officers and corruption in the police force.
According to The Star, the heated exchange at the meeting came about when Kinoti complained that his officers were being harassed by general duty officers, who even went ahead to arrest and lock up some DCI officers.
Kinoti is said to have been angered by an incident in which elite DCI officers based at parklands were disarmed and detained at Kitengela Police Station after being flagged down at a roadblock in Kitengela town.
It took the intervention of senior DCI officials to end the situation. The arrested officers were escorting an ethanol truck headed for Tanzania.
Earlier in April, a DCI officer in Migori was arrested by regular police after allegedly using vulgar language on two bar owners in Migori. The said detective went ahead to threaten Migori Police Station Commander that he would have him transferred if he was locked up.
In Nakuru, a DCI officer was placed in cells after a scuffle between him and regular police officers at a roadblock. The DCI officer was allegedly driving drunk and without a seatbelt. Regular police officers flagged him down and tried to arrest him. There was a scuffle before the regular police put him in cuffs.
The Star reported that DCI Kinoti felt that the regular officers under the command of Deputy Inspector General Mbugua were victimising his officers. Ireri Kamwende, who is the head of Forensic Investigations at the DCI warned that if the frosty relationship between the Kenya Police (regular police) and DCI was not fixed, they would end up shooting at each other. He called for swift action to save the service.
Deputy Inspector General Mbugua, who is in charge of regular police defended his officers divulging that numerous complaints had been lodged against DCI officers. He went on to give Kinoti a file full of complaints by regular police against DCI officers and asked him to act on it.
It was Mutyambai's first meeting with senior police commanders since his appointment. He is scheduled to visit the DCI headquarters on May 2 to listen to their grievances.
