DPP directs Police IG to arrest, charge top cop with three offences
Tuesday, 2nd May 2023
The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji directed the Inspector-General of Police, Japhet Koome, to arrest and charge a senior police superintendent based at Vigilance House in Nairobi with three criminal offences.
Haji wants Nicodemus Danishe Ocholla charged with abuse of office, threats to kill and assault resulting in bodily harm, in a case involving the cop’s ex-wife.
According to a report by Daily Nation, Ocholla’s ex-wife accused him of using junior officers in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to track her colleagues at work and friends after she decided to end an abusive marriage.
The woman first filed her complaint with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), but claims she underwent frustrations while following up on the matter and opted to seek the intervention of the then Deputy Inspector-General, who, on receipt of the complaint, referred her to the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) in 2021.
The IAU conducted an inquiry into the allegations under its then director and current DCI boss Mohamed Amin, who established that Ocholla abused his position as a senior police officer.
The inquiry found that Ocholla indeed enslisted the services of junior DCI officers to unlawfully track persons and report to him, putting the lives of those who were in contact with the woman in danger.
Besides instituting criminal charges against Ocholla, the IG further ordered firm disciplinary action against the DCI officers who followed unlawful orders from him.
The latest directive by the DPP comes on the back of multiple reminders by the courts that individual police officers shall be held liable for following unlawful orders, even if they come from their superiors.
Section 51(2) of the NPS Act states that a police officer who fails to comply with unlawful orders shall not be subjected to disciplinary proceedings. Mr Ocholla was summoned by the IAU for processing on April 26 but his lawyer argued there was an interim order barring the inspector-general from taking action against him until the case is mentioned on May 10.
