A General Service Unit (GSU) Recce officer who was discharged in 2016 over law scholarship course has finally been reinstated.
Newton Chebii was fired for attending Law Degree classes at Strathmore University without informing his superiors at the police headquarters.
He had been awarded a scholarship alongside one of his colleagues, the office of the Ombudsman said.
The two were then deployed to Kibera Welfare Canteen and were to be reporting to the Officer in Charge.
“In 2016, the GSU Commanding Officer declared them deserters as they failed to appear when deployed back to the GSU Headquarters. This was due to the fact that they were attending classes and the officers at the headquarters were unaware of the same,” the Ombudsman said.
Consequently, the two officers stopped receiving their salaries which prompted them to seek the intervention of the Inspector General and his deputy.
On August 15 the same year, the Commandant said there had been a ‘communication breakdown’ and they would get back their salaries.
However, only his colleague began to receive his dues.
Two months later, Chebii was suspended with his seniors quoting Section 88 (2) and Sub-Section (1) (c) of the Eighth Schedule of the National Police Service Act, 2011.
Section 88 (2) states: ” The offences against discipline include the offences prescribed under the Eighth Schedule.”
Sub-Section (1) (c) says: “It shall be an offence against discipline for any police officer to—use threatening or insubordinate or disrespectful language, word, act or demeanour to a police officer senior to him in rank.”
“Interestingly, by the time he lodged the matter with Commission in August 2017, he had not received an outcome of the disciplinary matter,” the Ombudsman said on Monday.
It is then that he decided to forward the matter to the National Police Service Commission.
Chebii was reinstated in November 2017 with full salary and arrears but over a year later, he had not received a letter stating the same.
He approached the Ombudsman who finally resolved the case in January 2019.