MPs give Kimaiyo more powers in commission

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

MPs Thursday gave the Inspector General of Police and his two deputies the powers to determine when, and if, the commission that keeps an eye on the police holds a meeting.

Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on National Security Asman Kamama and Leader of Majority Aden Duale raised the quorum of the National Police Service Commission from five to six, and put in a clause that obligates the commission to only hold meetings if police boss David Kimaiyo and one of his deputies are present.

Alternatively, the MPs said, Mr Kimaiyo’s two deputies – Samuel Arachi and Grace Kaindi – have to be present if the IG is absent.

Duale and Kamama dispelled fears that the trio at the helm of the National Police Service was likely to cripple the commission, by agreeing not to show up for the meetings.

They said the rest of the commissioners had no idea about how the police ran their affairs on a daily basis, and therefore, they had to be stopped from meeting without at least two of the uniformed members.

“If a decision is made at the commission without the presence of the uniformed officers, the move will affect the work of the service,” said Deputy Majority Leader Naomi Shaaban (Taveta).

But some MPs disagreed. They argued that the three top officers can gang up, to make sure that the NPSC never meets.

“If they don’t have a quorum, and two-thirds is very high, then the commission will be crippled. We have to allow the commission to do its job without giving the other members of the commission a way to blackmail the rest of the commission,” said Millie Mabona (Mbita).

The lawmakers also denied the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Co-ordination the power to micro-manage the commission. The amendment to the NPSC Bill, 2013, had sought to have the authority of the CS before the commission employed staff.

The MPs also made sure that the trio that runs the National Police Service –Kimaiyo, Arachi and Kaindi – are now full-time members of the National Police Service Commission. The move grants the three all the full privileges that the other commissioners have.

But Mabona, John Mbadi (Suba), Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria) and Muriuki Njagagua (Mbeere North) made a crucial change to the law to make it easy for the commission to call and hold meetings. They threw out a clause that pushed for a 14-day notice period before meetings are convened.

“This is a digital era. We can call meetings and hold them within a day,” said Njagagua.

Moroto added that a security committee had to have the leeway to meet as soon as a crisis occurred.

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