The evil within Bondeni police station that has residents of Nakuru east sub-county living in fear

Bondeni police station in Nakuru East sub-county has come under intense scrutiny following a series of allegations of corruption and harassment against the officers manning the station.

One of the most recent cases to cast a shadow on the station is that of Festus Muthuli, who died minutes after being released from Bondeni police station.

The matter is being actively investigated by the Independent Police and Oversight Authority (IPOA).

This is not the first time the police station has come under scrutiny.

In October last year, the police station experienced numerous changes in the number of Officer Commanding Station's (OCS).

To be precise, since 2019, the station has had four OCSs and only one of the four has stayed the longest.

All these changes came against the backdrop of allegations of corruption and harassment by most of the officers who have commanded the station, with Bondeni being one of the estates with the highest crime rate in Nakuru County.

Also last year, Nation. Africa reported the story of a woman, Celine Akoth, a resident of Bondeni, whose son was left impotent after he was allegedly assaulted by police officers from Bondeni police station. 

Things went from bad to worse when, according to Ms Akoth, her son fell into depression and started abusing drugs, leading to his death.

Three years ago, Eric Wekesa, who was an OCS at Bondeni Police Station, was also accused of allegedly shooting and killing 19-year-old Whitney Atieno.

Nakuru Human Rights Network director David Kuria agrees that there have been numerous complaints emanating from the police station.

"The incident that happened at the end of last week was just one of the many cases that have been brought to my attention. The station itself has been plagued by allegations of corruption," says Kuria.

"There are some officers who have been at this police station for so long that even when you bring in a new OCS, there is no real change because they come in and find that things are being done behind closed doors and they have to stick to the status quo," he laments.

Mtaa Wangu visited Bondeni estate and spoke to a resident who echoed their sentiments. 

James*, a resident of Bondeni, says cases of police harassment and bribery have long been a thorn in their side.

"We sometimes see people who are repeat offenders arrested and detained, but later released. There are even those who believe that there are those in the police service who are colluding with some of the criminal elements and this sometimes leads to a lack of trust on the part of the public," he says.

James also points out that in most cases, residents do not report crimes for fear of retaliation from the criminal gangs.

Midrift Hurinent Programme Officer, Calvin Muga, says the role of the police to maintain law and order and trust between the public and the police is very important.

"Security agencies can only be proactive if members of the public partner with them on issues of peace and security and in the absence of this very important partnership, you get a reactive police service instead of a proactive police service," says Muga.

"In the long run, when community policing is affected, the issue of information sharing becomes a challenge. To solve this, we need a continuous dialogue between the police and the community. This dialogue can also come in the form of accountability, where the community raises issues around issues of insecurity, and once you build accountability between two forces that may not see eye to eye, then you build trust between them," he says.