THE CUTTING EDGE – Daily Nation

CROOKED POLICE: There are some 10 or so traffic police officers in Nairobi, Philemon Wachara reports, who wake up thinking only about how to extort money from motorists. He wonders how Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai would not have heard about this illegal operation. “Every morning, they arrive and begin flagging down vehicles at the busy Likoni/Enterprise Road junction? They stop mostly trucks, pick-ups and Toyota Probox cars to demand bribes, causing serious traffic jams. “Can the EACC smoke out these crooked officers?” His contact is [email protected]

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EXTORTIONISTS: There is a good number of plainclothes police officers who prey on motorists at the Allsops interchange on the Thika Superhighway, says David Motari, adding: “They will pounce and demand bribes for non-existent traffic offences. They will flash out their identity cards and demand your driving licence, which they retain as a bait to extort money by piling on all kinds of trumped-up traffic offences.” During these coronavirus pandemic times, David is upset that the crooks make life much harder for law-abiding motorists and are tainting the image of the police. “What happened to the motto of service to all and not bribery?” he asks. His contact is [email protected]

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ROAD WORKS: Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), responding to Thomas Yebei’s complaint, wishes to advise that it has engaged a performance-based contractor to undertake maintenance on the Thika Superhighway. Charles Njogu, the assistant director – corporate communications, says “among the works being undertaken is the surface dressing of the road to protect and lengthen the shelf life”. He adds: “On the section mentioned by Yebei, the contractor did the job but, unfortunately, it rained heavily within an hour, leading to the surface area peeling off. KeNHA has directed the contractor to scrape it all and apply a new layer.” Their contact is [email protected]

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POWER GAME: On the purge in Jubilee Party with the axing of Senate leaders allied to DP William Ruto, Silas Nyambok begs to differ with the insinuation that it is political betrayal. “Politics is dynamic and driven by vested interests. Such differences are not unusual.” Silas’s view is that the DP “failed miserably” on the first four laws of power (from The 48 Laws of Power): “Never outshine the master; never put too much trust in friends, use enemies; conceal your intentions, and always say less than necessary.” His contact is [email protected]

Have a predictable day, won’t you!