A man alleged to have masqueraded as a senior police officer
in the Rift Valley will have his day in court.
Joshua Karanjahi Waiganjo, who is claimed to have been
posing as the Rift Valley Deputy Provincial Police Officer (PPO) and an
Assistant Commissioner of Police, was charged in a Naivasha court with four
different counts.
The composed suspect was later taken to Naivasha District
Hospital after it emerged he needed medical attention.
Members of the public revealed how he allegedly fleeced them
and “sacked” police officers at will.
Some of those interviewed who requested that their names not
be revealed said the middle-aged man came to Naivasha in 1997 from Timboroa
where he was employed as a matatu conductor.
“He claimed to have been displaced in post-election violence
and he worked along the Nairobi-Naivasha road for some years,” said one of the
witnesses.
Later he headed to Eldoret where he worked as a bodyguard
for an influential transporter in the town before he was fired.
The witness said that they later came to learn that he had
joined the police force and would be seen with senior police officers.
Junior officers along the Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret highway
told of the fear and mental torture he inflicted on them before his arrest.
“Initially we doubted that this man was a police officer due
to the manner he presented himself and our worst fears have been confirmed,”
said one of the officers.
So feared was the man that Naivasha residents and police
officers were unwilling to reveal their names when narrating the trouble he had
caused them.
A Naivasha trader, who also declined to be named, claimed he
met the accused several times at the Rift Valley Provincial headquarters where
he “assisted” many.
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