Kamogelo Olaitan
A Kenyan woman appeared on national TV posing as a cop and was so unconvincing that police rushed to the station and arrested her on the spot.
Monica Wamaitha Gitau, a civilian and reportedly an aspiring politician, was in full police uniform when she appeared on a popular breakfast show for Inooro TV.
But the badge and blue shirt did little to convince cops who were tuning in, and by the time the show ended, Gitau was leaving the station in cuffs (but presumably not the ones she brought with her).
No one knows why the woman pretended to be a cop. The station has also not commented on the matter.
In a tweet the National Police Service-Kenya said Gitau is currently assisting with investigations for the offence of impersonating a police officer.
Bizarrely, the police say Gitau is a candidate for a parliamentary seat for the Nairobi Women MP party in the elections scheduled for August.
To avoid similar incidents in the future, the police have urged media houses to conduct due diligence on officers before inviting them for interviews.
Local media in Nairobi report that during the interview Gitau told the show host that she was a security consultant and that she ran a polytechnic in Kibera.
“I do not think there’s a problem with me appearing on this to discuss politics when I am in uniform,” she said in vernacular during the show, clearly convinced that the uniform had everyone fooled.
“On Tuesday, we saw Oscar Sudi [an MP] in school uniform and some other time Sabina Chege [a Kenyan politician] also appeared in her old school uniform. I am also wearing this uniform like them,” she continued, clearly fixated on uniforms.
“It’s only that it is blue in colour, yet [my school uniform] was in the jungle colour. I picked this one because it is the one currently in use and to represent fellow women in the service,” she said.
In 2013 a Kenyan man, Joshua Waiganjo, allegedly pretended to be an assistant commissioner of police for five years.
He was said to have recruited and hired police officers in the Rift Valley province during this time. Waiganjo was acquitted in May 2020 by the High Court.
