It was the Christmas Eve of 2009 and I was in Kenya visiting family and friends and also on a mission to look at investment and business opportunities for myself and a group of business friends.
As I drove around Kericho town to do last minute shopping for Christ’s birthday I came face to face with harassment by Kenya Police. The most embarrassing and humiliating part was that my mother was there and I guess having lived in Kenya for over 50 years she was more stubborn and in a better position to deal with the two policemen; a Mr. Langat and a Mr. Kimani who report to a certain alcohol lover called Evans Gitari ranked as base commandant Kericho police station. I on the other hand, having been overseas for more than 10 years tried conversing with the two junior police officers, and in the meantime completely forgot that to them I was guilty unless I was to “toa kitu kidogo” or as it turned out “toa kila kitu” especially being Christmas Eve, a time you do not want to end up in a cell because this equates to missing the birth of the messiah and staying in the cells until the holidays ended.

My over 50year old mother was taken to the police station in my car by Mr. Langat. The way I see it, he “stole” my car because he jumped into the car and drove off yet I was in a perfect mental and physical state to do the driving He actually forgot that he had asked me for my driver’s license and as I was handing it over he instead snatched the car keys from me. The accusation being put forward by officer Langat was that I had caused traffic obstruction even though I was stuck waiting for a matatu to move so I could maneuver my way through. I was later told by the poor people that have had to experience this over and over again that it was at this stage that I was meant to toa kila kitu and I just wonder how non Kenyans are to understand this culture without some sort of orientation or better still how this has come to be an acceptable culture.

By the time I got to the police station I found my mother trying to hammer some sense into the brains of a certain drunk Afande Gitari, his drunken state was confirmed as he had to excuse himself to throw up as he had clearly overindulged to the extent that it was becoming unbearable. I went straight to enquire what was required of me to free my car but since the Afande was too drunk to realize what he was doing he ordered my arrest without listening to what my charge was (again this was another opportunity to Toa kila kitu). The policemen ordered me to take off my belt and one shoe, offering me another opportunity to TKK, all the while asking how much money I had in my pocket.

I count myself lucky because I was with somebody who could bail me out or better still that there was money to bail me out, I say this because there was more than 10 people who had been arrested under similar circumstances and they were not allowed to contact their family or friends and they could not afford to pay a bribe to be set free.

I narrated the story to my colleagues upon my return to Australia and this has made many change their perception of Kenya and towards investing there and they are now thinking of investing in neighboring countries. I cannot help but wonder how many opportunities the country has lost because of such nonsensical habits by the police force and the government at large.
I would like to challenge the police commissioner and the minister for internal security to clean up the force or at least teach them some good customer service skills so they are able to communicate with people and not treat them like common criminals.
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