Three police bosses from Kitui were on Sunday, April 16, arrested by officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for allegedly running a multimillion illegal roadside tax collection scheme.
EACC revealed that the scheme was a collusion between the police bosses and officials from the Kitui county government and raked in as much as Ksh174,000 per day.
Further, the commission stated that the officers, working together with officials from the county government, set up illegal roadblocks along the Mwingi - Matuu road forcing motorists transporting sand to pay money in form of tax.
They detailed that the first roadblock was manned by private individuals who collected ksh6,000 for every lorry of sand but issued a receipt of only Ksh1,000.
“The receipts belong to a private company registered as a sand transporters organisation,” EACC officials stated.
After the first roadblock, officials from the commission explained that the lorry drivers would then encounter a government official at a second roadblock who would confirm if they had indeed paid at the first roadblock.
The government official then, reportedly, allowed the lorries to proceed with their journey only after assessing and clearing the lorries.
“At the second roadblock, the motorists transporting sand meet a government official who will asses the lorries and clear them when they confirm the payment made at the earlier stop,” the anti-corruption agency explained.
Further, EACC noted that the sand that was being transported by the lorries was also illegally mined. It was, however, not clear how long the syndicate operated although the three officers were nabbed in an undercover operation.
According to the agency, the County Government of Kitui suspended sand mining through a gazette notice in 2022.
“NEMA has not issued a mining licence for the activity to continue and we will investigate the individuals mining and the companies issuing receipts,” added EACC.
The Commission noted that they would continue with the investigation to further determine the authority behind the illegal tax collection scheme.
