Revealed: Police chief found dead in bar had Sh1m windfall

The police officer who died after a nightlong drinking spree at a bar in Bombolulu, Mombasa had received Sh1 million pay as salary for 19 months that he had been on interdiction for deserting work.

Chief Inspector William Chepkwony was allegedly battling alcohol addiction that had seen him suspended from duties between March 2015 and September 2016.

The officer was paid the Sh1 million backdated salary in November, his family revealed on Wednesday.

His son, Nickson Choge, said on Wednesday that when he visited his father on Wednesday last week, he promised to give him a share of the money to start a business.

Choge said he had been informed by his close friends that his father had been paid Sh1 millionwhich had been withheld while he was on suspension.

“We visited him alongside my sister at his work place, he seemed excited and he promised he would share some of his earnings with us to help us in starting a business. However, we never heard from him again until Tuesday when we were called here to be informed of the sad news,” said Choge.

Choge said the family had on several occasions pleaded with senior police officers to transfer his father to his home area in Uasin Gishu County due to his drinking problem.

The family, Choge said, pleaded for the transfer after the officer deserted them in 2016.

Choge said they wrote to Vigilance House and the then Coast Region Police Commander Francis Wanjohi seeking to have his father transferred to a police station near his home and have part of his salary given to the family.

“On several occasions, I alongside my three other siblings wrote to his bosses, further we visited the boss seeking on how my father would be transferred near our village in Pilolo to enable him provide for us as well as educate us. However, our cries fell on deaf ears since he was not transferred nor did we receive a penny from his salary,” he claimed.

Some of the officers who worked with Chepkwony said that after receiving the money, the deceased would spend many hours in drinking dens and would always come to work drunk.

Chepkwony was found dead on Tuesday morning by a barmaid at Cornerstone Bar.

Kisauni sub-county police commander Julius Kiragu said police are still investigating his death.

“Investigations are ongoing awaiting the postmortem results which will determine the cause of death,” he said.