"I will forget the money and count my leg as the sacrifice I have given for this country, with nothing to show for it," a police officer tells the Star.
His leg was blown up by an improvised explosive device while on duty.
He is still chasing the Sh3.2 million payout promised by the state, money that is turning out to be a wish only beggars can ride on.
The 45-year-old officer believes his survival was a miracle. But nothing prepared him for the many years it has taken to pursue compensation by the employer.
"This accident changed my life forever," he says. He now uses a prosthetic limb and does lighter duties.
The officer who is stationed upcountry has travelled to the city countless times to follow up on the payout in vain. He is now giving up.
From low pay, poor housing, erratic career progression, hostile public attitude and disregard when injured in the line of duty, it takes a true calling to be a police officer in Kenya.
The employer has put the officers on a medical scheme that has helped pay their treatment bills upon injury, but chasing after compensation to afford regular medical bills turns out to be a tasking endeavor that leaves the eyes of injured officers shedding premium tears.
The Star’s investigation shows that close to 1,000 police officers left with serious injuries while on duty are enduring psychological distress and a deepening feeling neglect as state agencies responsible for releasing their compensation have put them on an unending pursuit.
The officers, who requested that their real names be withheld to protect their jobs, place the blame at the doorstep of the national insurer NHIF, complaining that it is not responsive to their concerns and sits on their monies.
But NHIF acting chief executive Samson Kuhora told the Star the insurer only had the mandate to give cover to police officers for 2021 and 2022 and that it elapsed in December last year.
This means that NHIF does not have a coin for officers who got injured in 2019 and back.
The cover in question is three in one: general life, final expenses and the WIBA compensation (under the Workmen Injury Benefits Act).
"The matter for WIBA compensation is a case by case basis and the list we processed and the monies that were to be disbursed were dispatched to another government agency," Kuhora said.
For the cases of officers who are yet to get their dues, he said, the process is lengthy but ongoing.
"Due to the nature of the claims, NHIF is still processing claims for officers covered by this policy. Cases of delays in the settlement of claims covered are typically brought on by various issues and challenges.
"However, NHIF, the employer NPS, DOSH and the underwriters are collaborating to make sure that any obstacles are quickly handled so that the beneficiaries can obtain their payments as soon as possible. The process is conducted on a case-by-case basis, and the impacted officers or beneficiaries are alerted in the event of a challenge," Kuhora said.
NPS is the National Police Service while DOSH is Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health.
Some of the challenges that delay release of the funds to beneficiaries, Kuhora said, include certain requirements.
The CEO said that "there are some cases where the insurance policy requires that before the severity of any disability can be assessed and compensation paid, the member must first make a full recovery from their wounds, [which] can take years."
He added that some officers have multiple partners who lay conflicting claims, hence delaying the process owing to the lengthy verification needed.
The insurer says it has paid out up to Sh6 billion so far.
The chairman of the National Police Service Commission Eliud Kinuthia did not respond to our calls or text messages to clarify issues surrounding compensation for officers.
John Kipkirui is a police officer. While on night patrol in the deprived parts of one of the cities in December 2021, he fell into a manhole beside the road. He landed face first, sustaining severe injuries that saw his upper and lower jaws broken and disengaged. His eyes were also damaged.
It took Kipkirui months in hospital and surgeries to bring him back to his feet. Thankfully, the health insurance cover of his employer footed the huge bills.
But the officer needs recurrent medical help, including therapy and drugs that his meagre salary cannot afford. To add salt to the injury, despite completing paperwork and the assessment by a WIBA doctor as per the law for compensation because he got the injury while at work, he has not received a penny months on.
He was to be paid Sh1.4 million in compensation.
“I have filled all the documents and all assessment has been done but I don’t understand why the money cannot be given to us. It is just painful that I have a job but I live a like I don’t have it because my salary cannot keep by three children and wife plus my medical bills,” the 33-year-old officer sobbed.
Meshack Githaiga is another officer in the endless chase. The 39-year-old man fell from a police lorry while disembarking using a rope that apparently had gotten weak. He fractured the elbow of his left hand.
“I was carrying a heavy weapon and disembarking from the lorry, and it's like the rope was weak and it broke,” he said.
The injury has roundly changed his life as the left hand, though he has gone through treatment, remains weak and he is effectively disabled.
“It is the role of the government to maintain the vehicles and the equipment we use. I filled all the documents and was told to wait from February last year. Nothing has come of it,” he said.
Githaiga was to be given Sh1.1 million in payout.
The story of Joel Momanyi makes even a macabre reading. He was hit by a speeding car while serving in Nairobi in 2014 and almost lost his life.
He spent months in the ICU battling for life. Little did he know that on recovery, he would spend years chasing after compensation.
The father of four emerged from the experience with fractured left leg and a broken pelvic bone. Piece of metal had to be fitted into his leg and pelvis to enable him live and move.
But he requires regular physiotherapy and medication to keep doing his police work and live a fairly normal life.
A WIBA assessment found Momanyi worthy of getting Sh760,000. But the cash is yet to reach him. Many colleagues who got injured years later have got theirs.
After the injury, the police bosses transferred him to a county nearer to his home in western Kenya.
“I have been so frustrated by running around for the money until I’m almost giving up on life. I’m so frustrated, my brother. This is the kind of frustration that makes my colleagues consider taking their lives,” the frustrated officer said.
The story is the same for Abdullahi Ahmed who stepped into a manhole while doing foot patrol at night in one of the cities. He broke his right leg at the knee, requiring numerous reconstructive surgeries that saw him spend months in hospital.
His affected leg shortened by 3cm and he remains with a stiff knee that renders the leg unbendable.
Not just that, the officer endures recurrent pain that requires that he gets regular physiotherapy besides other medications.
“I got cleared by WIBA doctors in May 2022 to receive Sh2.3 million. I have been calling people in Nairobi and knocking on offices but I don’t know what is happening. The people tell me everything is cleared. It is a hopeless wait,” the officer said.
Alphaxad Ngonyo shares the same frustration. He fell from a motorbike while invigilating national exams in 2020, seriously fracturing his right wrist.
“I was sitting on the pillion carrying the examination and my weapon and the bike had to use alternative routes because the area was inaccessible,” he explained.
"But after my treatment, which the insurance catered for, the WIBA payment, which was Sh502,000, has never come all this time."