National Police Service Commission to blame over recruits' fiasco

President Uhuru Kenyatta has always reiterated that his Government is committed to attaining the recommended public-police officer ratio.

According to United Nations Security Charter, one officer is supposed to protect 450 citizens.

This brings me to recent media reports that a plot had been hatched to sabotage or delay the recruitment of 10,000 new police officers.

The top leadership of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) are in the spotlight as reports indicate the members disagreed sharply on which regulations – new or old – they should use to implement the directive by President Kenyatta.

Earlier, this matter had been taken to the High Court and after hearing the case, the court ruled in favour of the new regulations.

Given this scenario, one can tell without fear of contradiction that the intentions of those who lobbied for old rules were meant to sabotage the Government’s efforts to address insecurity challenges.

It is worth noting that the President, who spoke during the passing out at the General Service Unit headquarters in Embakasi, Nairobi, invoked the powers conferred on him by the Constitution and other laws.

As the chief executive of this nation, one of the responsibilities bestowed on him is to protect and secure the lives of Kenyans and their properties.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that efforts by the President on matters of security are either being sabotaged or not given the priority they deserve.

In the aftermath of Garissa University terrorist attack, he issued a similar directive to have 10,000 police recruits immediately report to their respective stations for training.

However, this would not come to pass as the decision had been successfully challenged in court.

For me, the top officers charged with the recruitment were to blame for once again showing the President in a bad light. The Judges nullified the exercise after the petitioners convinced them that the recruitment was marred by high-level corruption. If the officers had followed the law to the letter and spirit, this would not have happened.