William Oeri | NATION The scene at Parklands Police Station in Nairobi after a police officer shot dead his superior, a colleague and then killed himself earlier this month. 

On the morning of Saturday, May 13, 2011, Police Constable Jacob Rop shot dead his boss, Senior Sergeant Hassan Yusuf, following what was termed a “brief argument” at Parklands police station in Nairobi.
He then turned his weapon on his colleague, Constable Stephen Maganga, who had tried to intervene, and shot him near the abdomen.
The “gentle” constable, as his friends describe him, finally directed his smoking weapon at himself and pulled the trigger, shattering his head.
In this sad affair, his close friends regret only one thing; that Rop killed himself and Constable Maganga who they say was innocent.
What about Senior Sergeant Yusuf? “It was sad, too, but he brought it upon himself,” a close friend of Rop told the Sunday Nation.
His weapon
This was not the first time a junior officer was turning his weapon on his seniors and colleagues.
On March 26 this year at the Narumoru police station, Police Constable Mark Mutwiri Mbogo allegedly shot dead two of his superiors – Senior Sergeant John Koros and acting Inspector Hudson Orwenyo Morang’a.
In February, a GSU officer shot his boss 14 times and injured another officer in Mombasa before turning the gun on himself.
In November last year, AP constable Peter Karanja allegedly shot 10 people dead in three bars in Siakago and then tried to kill himself only to realise he had run out of bullets. He handed himself over to police officers.
In the wake of the Parklands incident, Police Commissioner Matthew Iteere explained that high stress levels were to blame for the increasing incidence of junior police officers turning their weapons on their bosses and the public. He constituted a task force to look into the issue.
Problems afflicting the police force tend to be viewed in a larger perspective – low wages and poor housing – that overlooks the details.
However, a dozen junior and mid-level officers dissatisfied with their bosses’ explanations sat down with the Sunday Nation and candidly explained what, in their view, is ailing their force.
And what they said, which the Sunday Nation confirmed in independent investigations, points to unfettered corruption within the police hierarchy, a breakdown in communication between junior officers and their superiors, and an archaic code of conduct and discipline that seems to oppress and suppress rather than guide.
Their grievances are best expressed by illustrating what happened on that fateful Saturday morning when Rop, a man described as polite by his colleagues, suddenly turned murderous.
“Yusuf should have stuck to the agreement,” a colleague who was at the station during the shooting incident said.
Apparently, as the Sunday Nation learnt, there are “lucrative” areas in the city.
These are basically places where money changes hands a lot. They include banks, casinos and popular night clubs.
“In casinos, the management gives you something small at the end of the night. Maybe Sh1,000 or even Sh3,000. You might also get tips from customers who have won and want armed escort. You will never go broke when you are working in a casino,” explained an officer.
Expectedly, officers crave to be assigned to work in these areas. But this does not come free, as we learnt.
“Our bosses know these places are lucrative and they demand something in return in order to post us to these areas,” explained an officer who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.