Disband Rogue Squad- NTSA Told

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has been urged to take action on four rogue officers accused of causing grievous harm to a lorry driver in Kitui County.

Speaking to Viral Tea, Marion Njoroge, a human rights activist, revealed that the driver, Cornelius Mutua, is nursing serious injuries at Kitui Level 5 Hospital.

She narrated that the driver, who transports sand around the Kitui area, was undertaking his duties on Wednesday, August 16 when a private vehicle with four occupants, a Toyota Hilux double cabin registered as KDG 138S, began chasing him at around 1 am.

Image of a lorry transporting sand. /FACEBOOK.KIVUTHA KIBWANA

Njoroge noted that the four occupants belonged to a crew naming itself Team Oscar who were carrying out their heinous acts of extorting citizens under the noses of the rest of the authority who had called it a day.

"The four-member crew calling itself Team Oscar had sneaked out to go harass and extort citizens while the entire team had already closed the day's operations and even surrendered firearms at Kitui Police Station as per the procedures," Njoroge lamented.

She added that the crew intercepted Mutua's vehicle with the pick-up and began chasing him down, as Mutua himself was unable to determine who they were, and that the precautionary measure was in response to several cases of carjacking of lorries across the country.

The rogue officers managed to catch up to Mutua, who broke his leg following the altercation while escaping from their grasp.

"They chased Mutua's vehicle using the said private vehicle and he did not stop because he couldn't recognize who they were and that there have been several cases of carjacking of such trucks within the country. They finally overcame him and intercepted him at a place called Ndumoni.

"They did not have uniforms or badges for identification purposes and it was during the altercation that Mutua broke his leg trying to flee from the "thugs"," she added.

The matter was reported at Mulutu Police Post under OB no 07/16/08/ 2023, in a case that was not deemed the first in a series of similar cases of harassment by the said NTSA rogue officers in the affected areas in Kisii.

She petitioned NTSA to identify the occupants of the double-cabin pickup and what they were doing after work hours without proper identification in a private vehicle.

Njoroge also sought to know who authorised or licensed the operations of the four rogue NTSA officers or by whose command they were acting during the incident.

The activist further called for the infamous "Oscar team" in Kitui on that material day to be immediately disbanded and for the four occupants to be arrested and charged with abuse of office and grievous harm, further seeking the help of the National Police Service (NPS).

Neither NTSA nor NPS were yet to issue an official response to the matter by the time of publishing this article.