Truck drivers in Kiambu are demanding action against a police officer who shot one of their own in the back in Embu County for allegedly refusing their bribe demands.
The drivers are calling on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to investigate the shooting, whose circumstances remain unclear.
The drivers claim police intimidate drivers by demanding bribes at the Kimbo weigh-bridge, along Thika Superhighway, in order to clear them, failure to which their cars are impounded and the drivers arrested.
"You cannot tell me that the truck consumes Ksh20,000 fuel, we pay for all the taxes including cess, then a police officer just shoots you because you refuse to pay bribes," they complained.
The driver, who refused to pay the bribe, was shot by police after they chased him along a road in Embu.
According to the drivers, the officer followed the driver to a private road angered by the the fact that he refused to conform to their wishes.
"These officers are hungry for money, they're even following us on private roads. I am wondering, what we did to deserve this kind of harassment?" one of the angry drivers asked.
The drivers also stated that the victim had a family and did not deserve what he went through, emphasizing that they needed to know how far the police would go for the small bribes.
The driver however survived the incident and is recuperating at the Thika Nursing Hospital.
In a similar case, Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi accused the police of covering up the killing of 9-year old Stephanie Moraa saying that the officers who were present at the shooting were well aware of who fired the gun but had refused to provide any names.
“I am almost certain that if the police service wished to identify and bring to book the officer who took away the life of Stephanie Moraa Gisemba, it would not take them a day to do so,” Magistrate Andayi ruled.
