Kidero suspends county askaris for extorting hawkers

By James Rono

Nairobi County Governor Evans Kidero has suspended five county employees caught extorting money from hawkers in Nairobi.

Nairobi City Secretary Robert Ayisi said one of the suspect was caught in camera negotiating a bribe of 4,000 shillings with a hawker whose wares had been confiscated and loaded in a waiting van.

Ayisi said three of the officers are in custody.

The county officers extorting money are not in uniform neither do they have identification documents but the vendors know them. Dr Ayisi however said the county is working on fighting corruption and improving its image.

The county secretary also said they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to help fight graft in the county government.

The arrest comes two years after the Independent Medico-legal unit IMLU petitioned Kidero with evidence of these officers being involved in acts of extortion and ill-treatment of hawkers and small scale traders in Nairobi.