Cheruiyot scolds IG Kanja over police bribery
By Cynthia Lodite, August 8, 2025Senate Majority Leader and Kericho County Senator Aaron Cheruiyot has called out Inspector General Douglas Kanja over police bribery along the various roadblocks.
According to the Kericho Senator, several police officers along the Mau Summit road towards Kapkatet have been soliciting bribes from Kenyans on the road.
Cheruiyot made his remarks on Friday, August 8, 2025, in Kericho during the Jukwaa la Usalamaa event.
At the time, he recalled vetting the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, in Parliament while agreeing to help fight police bribery along the roads, which, according to Cheruiyot, he agreed to take up the role diligently.
“When we were vetting the IG in parliament, there is a promise he gave me, unfortunately, he has not fulfilled,” Cheruiyot said, further adding, “Tulikubaliana utamaliza mambo ya polisi kuchukua hongo lakini hujatimiza, hiyo kazi DIG Masengeli atafanya,” Cheruiyot said.
The legislator further acknowledged the corruption menace along roads in Kericho County while revealing that there are more than one hundred roadblocks, which, according to Cheruiyot, are unrealistic.
“Today, if you drive a car from Mau Summit to Kapkatet, it has over 100 roadblocks. I do not think there is any other place that has such a number of roadblocks, and they are extortion centres. There is no security check; it is just taking money,” said Cheruiyot.
EACC report on corrupt departments
Worth noting, Cheruiyot’s remarks were made just weeks after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) released a new survey that has listed police officers as the most corrupt and unethical professionals.
The survey released on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, has established that corruption is one of the leading vices dogging the Kenyan employment sector.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers were ranked second at 17.3 per cent, chiefs came third at 16.2 per cent, county inspectorate officers (14.6%) and lawyers (14.1%).
Similarly, county revenue officers, land surveyors, architects, doctors and nurses, bankers, accountants, engineers, teachers, lecturers, and journalists were also listed as most corrupt and unethical professionals, respectively.
EACC also noticed that bribes are most likely given in public service offices, as Kenyans are asked to pay bribes to access government services.
Accessing a placement in the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was found to have the highest likelihood of being asked for a bribe.
Other bribery-prone services include making applications for CDF bursaries, university admission, NSSF cards, SHIF cards, county inspectorate services and county and land survey services.