Police officer files petition to have anti-corruption commissioner fired over misconduct

An Administration Police constable has filed a petition in Parliament seeking the removal of Prof Jane Onsongo from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, for gross misconduct and violation of the constitution.

In the petition, copied to the Commission on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) among other agencies, Joshua Momanyi also says that his job is under threat for upholding the rule of law.

The officer has already been transferred to Turkana, after he refused to run errands for the EACC commissioner.

The father of three also said that he had been evicted from his official house after he questioned his transfer. He says he was initially transferred to Nakuru, but this was rescinded when he questioned the move and he was later transferred to Athi River, before being sent to Turkana.

Momanyi says he was seconded to the Commission in 2006 as part of a security detail to offer VIP protection and started working with Onsongo in May 2012, but only lasted until March 11, 2014 when he questioned some of the assignments and irregular dealings he was asked to do on behalf of the commissioner.

Among the duties the officer complains about were shopping and supervising the construction of a house in Karen during official hours.

Momanyi says that he would run the errands using official vehicles and has attached photos of himself buying building materials from a hardware shop and dropping them off at the construction site in Karen.

“Further to the foregoing, Commissioner Onsongo would occasionally instruct us to pick up and drop off unauthorised personnel using her official vehicles in stark contravention of the government directive on the use of government vehicles,”  reads the petition in part.

He says that Onsongo would assign him and her driver duties that would ordinarily be performed by her assistants.

His letter of appointment reads that he was to provide security to the commissioner, detect and prevent crime and enhance the safety of the commissioner and any other duty that might be assigned to him.

The officer, however, states that the “other duties” clause in his letter of appointment do not include buying and fixing electrical goods at her house as well as doing plumbing works.

EACC chairman Mumo Matemu acknowledged in a memo, receiving the petition sent by Momanyi to CAJ.