With Joseph Nkaissery sworn in, focus shifts to who will be next Inspector General of Police

Nearly four weeks after Inspector General David Kimaiyo’s ‘retirement’, there is still no clear indication of when the process to appoint his successor begins.

Mr Kimaiyo announced his retirement from the National Police Service at the beginning of this month, following days of mounting public criticism on Government’s handling of the security docket.

So far, the only sign that the country is closer to getting a replacement for Kimaiyo is the swearing in of former Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery as new Internal Security Cabinet Secretary on Wednesday.

There were also challenges of quorum cited in the current composition of the National Police Service Commission which, under the previous legislation, it was expected to play a significant role in appointment of an IG. It is not clear to what extent NPSC will be involved in the hiring. Contacted, commission chairman Johnston Kavuludi was non-committal on what is taking place. Twice he had promised to comment, but had not done so by the time of going to Press.

The situation had legal experts concerned about the slow pace of finding a substantive replacement for Kimaiyo.

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights member George Morara questions why the Executive was quick to replace Internal Security CS Joseph ole Lenku but has not shown similar enthusiasm in having a substantive IG in office. “The Cabinet Secretary deals more with policy issues but we need to focus more on the ground operations which would require that we have a substantive IG in office,” he says.

Following last week’s acrimonious Special Session it is now believed the Executive had been buying time pending the outcome of proceedings in Parliament to approve the appointment of Nkaissery as well as debate on the security laws.

Under Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, which has triggered controversy after it was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta last Friday, the Head of State has powers to appoint the police boss. The new legislation also removed security of tenure of office of the IGP and his deputies.

In the new mode of appointment the President only needs to seek Parliament’s approval, thereby overlooking the input of other key bodies like the National Police Service Commission.

Chairman of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) Macharia Njeru, however, says there is no cause for alarm as there is no vacuum created by Kimaiyo’s retirement. “The respective commanders of services within the police service, including those at county level are still in office, which means work is still going on. If the operations of an institution were pegged on an individual then there would obviously be a problem with its structure,” he says.

As the guessing game continues, former Criminal Investigations Director boss Francis arap Sang, former Kenya Wildlife Service Director Julius Kipng’etich and former National Youth Service director Kiplimo Rugut have emerged as favourites to replace Kimaiyo.

The three come from Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley. Recently appointed National Police Airwing Commandant John Ochieng Owino, who came second during NPSC interviews, stands an outside chance of taking over from Kimaiyo due to political and tribal balancing.