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Police officer who got fired by vengeful superior fights on to get back his job


A police officer who was kicked out of the service by his senior is fighting to get back his job 15 months after the courts ruled in his favour.

Mr Lawrence Njue was dismissed from the service in August 2016 and after attempting all internal mechanisms to get his job back, it never happened.

JOB VACANCIES

He says that his woes started when he was attached to Dr John Kithaka the CEO Fountain Enterprise Program (FEP).

It is at the time that he was called by a senior officer who told him to ask his boss to help him get a job at FEP.

“He described FEP as a big company with many job vacancies. His request did not bear fruit since, at the time I was assigned to the CEO there, no job vacancies were available,” Mr Njue said.

He claims that after it proved hard to convince his boss, things started going south for him.

Mr Njue claims he was thereafter falsely charged with various offences including drug trafficking and being armed while taking alcohol inside bars.

His fate was eventually sealed when he was linked with a rogue officer known as Paul Martin, a known drug dealer with a case in court.

ABSENTEEISM

Mr Martin was arrested on September 1, 2020 alongside three others identified as Elizabeth Njoki Wanjiru, Ummy Salim and Nassoro Salid Salim in Mlolongo area.

Mr Njue insists that Mr Martin is an officer and his real name is Kennedy Malube but none of the people he has informed about the matter have ever done a background check as required.

On April 22, 2016, during a meeting held at Bomas of Kenya, he was disarmed following what he told Nairobi News were orders from above.

Lawrence Njue, the police officer who claims he was fired after falling out with his senior. PHOTO | COURTESY
Lawrence Njue, the police officer who claims he was fired after falling out with his senior. PHOTO | COURTESY

This saw him moved to North Horr in Marsabit County and he suspected that all this was done out of ill motive.

“I raised my complaints through the office of the then Senior Deputy Assistant Inspector General, Fred Mwei, who told me to hold on the transfer while an investigation was conducted on my complaint,” he said.

Mr Njue said that as he awaited the conclusion of the investigations he was accused of absenting himself from duty for 97 days and charged in absentia.

According to the National Police Service, one is declared a deserter when he absents himself from duty for 10 days.

COURT BATTLE

Mr Njue wonders why did the service decide to accuse him of absenteeism after 97 days.

He also questions their decision to discuss his issue without consulting him or giving him any notice to attend.

It is then that he opted to go to court and won the case in February 2019.

In the court ruling issued on February 8, 2019, Judge Stephen Radido ordered the National Police Service to lift the suspension and further ordered the respondents to reinstate the petitioner to duty forthwith.

This is after the court found out that the petitioner had met the standard requirement of him.

Days later, Mr Njue realised that no one was keen on assigning him a new role after the long break and he reached out to the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for help.

But all his efforts have so far failed to bear any fruits.