Reports that a delay in flying the General Service Unit’s Recce Squad to Garissa on the morning of the campus attack was caused after the plane they were supposed to use was held up in Mombasa on private mission.
The plane arrived at Wilson Airport with the Kenya Police Airwing Commandant Col (Rtd) Rogers Mbithi’s daughter-in-law and her two sons from Mombasa at 11.35am as the attack was going on, The Standard reports, in revelations that will spotlight abuse of office and public resources that’s rife in government at the expense of public service.
According to records at Wilson Airport, the plane arrived with “five souls on board”, meaning five individuals – two crew members and Mbithi’s daughter-in-law and her two teenage sons, according to the Standard report.
A section of the media had reported the plane was also carrying a security officer’s son but a source familiar with the matter denied the claim. “The said businessman has never used any of our planes,” a pilot at the airport said.
Questions have been raised on whether Inspector General Joseph Boinnet made an error of judgement by flying with two planes to Garissa, leaving behind the Recce squad. Boinnet has since received a brief stating the plane had flown on an unauthorised lease to Mombasa, sources say.
The IG has been hard pressed to explain why he travelled with two planes alongside Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery instead of giving preference to the commandos who killed the terrorists.
“The plane did not divert from its original course at any one time. They picked members of the family of the boss but still maintained its core business. It’s common for police vehicles and planes to do the same,” a source at the Air wing told The Standard.
Flight records at the Kenya Police Airwing indicate the plane arrived at Wilson Airport and stayed for over an hour before the commandos arrived.
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