Sunday, July 14, 2013

Police protest over contribution towards farewell party

Rift Valley Adminstration Police protest over contribution towards farewell party
Updated Sunday, July 14th 2013 at 12:48 GMT +3
Karanja Njoroge
NAKURU, KENYA: Administration Police officers in Rift Valley are complaining following instructions to remit money towards the farewell party of a retiring senior officer in the region.
The officers from the rank of Corporal upwards are required to contribute between Sh500 to Sh1,000 towards the send off party of long serving Rift ValleyAdministration Police Commandant Douglas Karanja.
A short message service forwarded to  the Standard by one of the senior officers asked him to send Sh5,000 from  his sub county.
“Sir we are planning a small party for the retiredPAPC (Provincial Administration Police Commandant) Mr Karanja to be held on Friday 26 July so please send me Sh 5,000 from your sub county  through my phone or that of Macharia 0721644003 before Wednesday,”  the message from a senior AP boss to officers in the region states.
The SMS has been dispatched to all officers manning AP Camps in region amid claims  that some of the officers were taking advantage to coerce  their juniors to contribute more.
The region has thousands of AP officers and the farewell kitty will collect millions of shillings with different ranks paying varying incremental amounts.
One of the officers urged the Government to intervene and reign in senior officers who had formed a habit  of forcing them to contribute  towards  their retirement.
 “Some of us earn peanuts but because we do not want to antagonize our bosses so we have to part with the money,” the officer who requested anonymity said.
However AP spokesman Masoud Mwinyi  said contributions  towards  the retirement of senior officers is voluntary.
Mwinyi accused the officers complaining of malice  saying decisions  on the contributions  are usually arrived at after intense consultations.
“We have people leaving the station every other time and individual stations make their  own arrangements  to see if they can contribute. It is  a standard procedure and it is not like anybody is being forced,” Mwinyi said.
 There was controversy last year after some AP officers protested over plans to deduct their money towards  retiring AP commandant Kinuthia Mbugua farewell party.
The APs had been asked to contribute between Sh500 and Sh2,000 to send off Mbugua who later plunged  into politics. Mbugua is now the Governor of Nakuru County.

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