A man was on Monday charged before the Milimani chief magistrate court with obtaining Sh2.5 million from Kenyans by falsely pretending that he could secure them jobs in the National Police Service.
James Chesimani Masengeli was accused of using the name of Deputy Inspector General Gilbert Masengeli to convince his victims to offer cash in exchange for the jobs.
James, whose real name is Timothy Khatete Barasa, is accused of having committed the offence on diverse dates between November 18, 2025 and November 23, 2025, when police recruitment was ongoing.
“At an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, with intent to defraud, obtained Sh2,588,000 by falsely pretending that you were in a position to secure seven job opportunities for employment in the National Police Service, a fact you knew to be false,” the charge sheet read.
The accused pleaded not guilty before Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego. His lawyer, Shadrack Wambui, asked the court to offer him lenient bond terms, saying he was the family breadwinner.
“The accused has four children and would be seeking for lenient bond or cash bail so he can be released to go and fend for his family,” Wambui said.
Wambui told the court that the accused was a serving police officer, only for the prosecutors to interject saying he was not known in the police service.
The court granted the accused a bond of Sh1 million with a surety of a similar amount.
“In the alternative, he is granted a cash bail of Sh500,000 with two contact persons. Pre-trial on December 16,” the magistrate directed.
Only last week, a report by the Human Rights Agenda (Huria) said there were widespread irregularities and systemic failures in the recruitment of police constables.
The report said legal procedures, transparency rules and integrity safeguards were ignored during the November 2025 recruitment exercise.
The 72-page report, titled 'Policing the Police', is based on direct field observations conducted across 10 recruitment centres in Mombasa, Kwale, and Kilifi counties.
The coastal region had a total of 21 recruitment centres.
There were 416 recruitment centres nationwide.
Huria executive director Yusuf Lule said the 2025 exercise unfolded under unusual constraints because recruitment had been halted by conservatory court orders and resumed only after these orders were lifted on November 14, merely three days before the scheduled date.
“This abrupt timeline not only limited outreach to potential applicants but also contributed to visible confusion at several centres. Panels were forced to improvise, often deviating from statutory requirements and relying on locally determined procedures instead of uniform guidance from the National Police Service Commission,” Lule said.
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