Top police posts vacant as commission disagrees over ethnic parity

Disagreement over ethnic balance has caused a stalemate in filling top positions in the police service as required by a new organisational structure.

The fate of eight officers qualified for the position of senior assistant inspector general and 40 others for assistant inspector general remains unknown.

The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has approved the new ranks, which include senior assistant inspector general of police, assistant inspector general and commissioner of police.

But NPSC members are yet to decide who among the top officers will be named to the new positions amid revelations that tribalism and massive lobbying were the causes of the delay.

Sources said whereas some commissioners had agreed on the need for both merit and ethnic balance to be the leading factor, external forces want to push their tribesmen and women to the posts, leading to the standoff.

"There seems to be disagreement among some officials on who should occupy these positions," said a highly placed official who asked not to be named.

The first group that should be considered for the post of senior assistant inspector general of police are the Senior Deputy Commissioners of Police 1 William Sayia (small arms and light weapons unit), Patrick Ochieng' (airwing), Kenya Police College's Peter Kavila and Administration Police Training College Commandant Omar Shurie.

This will force the promotion of some of the officers of the rank of deputy commissioner of police to fill the vacancies, and dropping of some over regional representation.

At the top of the service is Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo, his deputies Grace Kaindi (Kenya Police) and Samuel Arachi (Administration Police), and Criminal Investigations Department (CID) boss Ndegwa Muhoro.

Many officers feel continued delay of the appointments had contributed to failure by security officers to address some structural and security problems.

In the structure, the CID, General Service Unit and some formations will be semi-autonomous but reporting to the Inspector General of National Police.

There will be eight directorates to be based at the police headquarters to co-ordinate the overall affairs of the service.

These include operations, planning, logistics and development, gender and community policing, personnel, internal affairs unit and communication.

There will also be a principal assistant to the Inspector General of National Police, his deputies and Directorate of CID.

In the national structure, there will be 10 senior assistant inspectors general of police.

Two will be in the IG's office, four in the office of the deputy IG in charge of police, three in the office of deputy IG for AP and one in the office of director of CID.

Police vetting is ongoing.