President Kenyatta made a surprise night visit to several police stations on Saturday. Mr. Kenyatta was inspecting the progress of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services projects across the city.
Among the police stations visited includes the Kilimani Police Station and the Central Police Stations, all located in Nairobi County. The head of state was inspecting the progress of the police digital Occurrence Book (OB).
The digital Occurrence Book was launched on November 22, 2019 by the Inspector of Police Hilary Mutyambai at Kasarani Police Station. Mr. Mutyambai back then touted the OB as the best way to connect activities of various offenders and criminals across the country by creating a permanent record. “This permanent record cannot be erased easily”, Mr. Mutyambai told the media.
The digital occurrence book is effective as it can be accessed by all police stations in the country and is less prone to manipulations. This ensures a high level of accountability and reduces chances of corruption among junior police officers.
On August 2nd, 2020, Internal Security boss Dr. Fred Matiang’i said officers chosen at random to explain the tenets of the digital occurrence book were prone to immediate termination if they were unable to do so. This was meant to ensure that all police officers took the new procedure serious and hence make a concerted effort to familiarize themselves with it.
When president Uhuru Kenyatta visited the Kilimani police station, the officer manning the station was asked to explain to the president how the digital occurrence book works. He successfully did so as Mr. Kenyatta heaped praise on the officer afterwards.
Before visiting the police stations, the president spent the whole of Saturday inspecting various Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) projects in the city. Some of the areas visited by the president includes: inspecting sidewalks under construction at Kenyatta Road, Kirinyaga Road, Thika Road and winding his tour on Jogoo Road. The commander-in-chief was accompanied by NMS Director General Mohammed Badi, among other dignitaries.
General Badi and Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko have been in a protracted war over the NMS’ take over of the key functions of Nairobi County. On Friday August 7th, 2020, Governor Sonko sought the help of the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for help in resolving Mr. Sonko’s tussle with the NMS boss.
In his grievance, Mr. Sonko accused NMS of disrespecting the Deed of Transfer Agreement and colluding with goons with an aim of undermining the Naiobi County Government Administration. The Nairobi governor said he wanted Raila Odinga to join forces with the Chief Justice David Maraga in order to hold NMS accountable and therefore help protect devolution.
“I thougth they (NMS) would focus on main areas where I needed help like addressing the decongestion management, and implementation of modern traffic and transportation infrastructure system”, Said Sonko in a statement.
