Ex-Police Officers Charged with Impersonating Governor Ongwae

Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police, Noor Gabow, being sworn in in January 2018
Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police, Noor Gabow, takes oath of office in January 2018
File

Two former police officers were on Thursday, April 8 arraigned before Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate, Jane Kamau, on charges of impersonating Kisii Governor, James Ongwae.

The two, Kennedy Ooga Onsonga and Declarn Odongo, impersonated the governor by calling the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of Administration Police, Noor Gabow.

The court was told that on March 16, 2021, Onsongo called Gabow's personal assistant pretending to be the governor and requested that Onsongo be reinstated.

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Officers on duty at a police station in Kenya in a photo dated 2020
Photo
NPS

The two would later on Tuesday, April 6 present themselves to the Human Resource office at the Administration Police headquarters for a job appointment.

While waiting for their appointment, it was discovered that that the phone number used to call the DIG was registered to Onsongo and the case was reported to the police.

The case was later on taken over by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) office based at Parliament buildings and the two were arrested and placed in custody.

The officer investigating the case, Sergent Daniel Koipiri, told the court that more time was needed in order to compile evidence.

State prosecutor, Fredrick Kimanthi, added that the physical presence of the two suspects was needed and therefore refused that the two should be granted bail.

“The investigations are ongoing and we have reasonable leads that the suspects may have been involved with others who are at large,” Kimanthi said.

The senior principal magistrate however released the two on bail. They were however ordered to deposit their police service identification cards (ID) in court.

In addition, the magistrate ordered that they present themselves to the KICC police station to help with investigations.

Cases of impersonation have in recent years been on the rise with the most common being cases of civilians impersonating police officers in order to steal from Kenyans.

An Empty Court Room
An Empty Court Room
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