Take police through performance appraisals

A traffic police officer controls traffic when a section of Kenyatta Avenue was closed for the construction of a drainage system. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

At any one time, especially in the corporate world, there’s a fad that usually doesn’t last.

We have seen ‘Management by Objectives’, ‘Total Quality Management’, ‘Six Sigma’, and recently, McKinsey’s ‘Agile’ which I understand some of Kenya’s top corporates are paying top dollar to implement.

However, a fad that has lasted and could remain is Performance Appraisal. It may not fit in squarely with the other fads but every corporate wants to be seen to be implementing it.

In government service, such appraisals were recently in the news when a former CS purported to conduct appraisals on his peers. They were not amused at all.

I thought it was a good thing though; someone needs to be accountable, and it must start from the top. In government service, the top honcho is the Cabinet Secretary and if they are regularly appraised, the same will cascade to other staff.

For a start, I would love to see the police appraised. It has been said our police force is among the most corrupt in the world; the only way we can ascertain service delivery (read corruption) is through a proper performance appraisal.

I had an interesting ordeal recently at the hands of two policemen; I was stuck in traffic and this policeman with hungry eyes (though, from his demeanour, he hadn’t slept hungry in a long time), stabbed my windscreen with his forefinger in a feverish manner while telling me rather sternly that I was driving with expired insurance.

I told him, no, I have insurance but I hadn’t printed it. He entered my car and told me to go explain that to his boss.

The boss happened to be a lady who promptly entered the back seat and demanded I show them the certificate, and, if indeed I had valid insurance, I would only face the reduced charge of “failure to display”.

All this time, I am frantically going through my phone for the sticker sent weeks earlier, but it appears the file no longer exists. I called the broker and he promised to resend. All this while, the duo were eyeing me expectantly, hoping I didn’t have the sticker.

They were also trying to slyly figure out whether I was someone important who might cause them some trouble.

As it were, I saw the lady cop munching away some cashew nuts I had placed on the back seat. “You know, I haven’t taken such good cashew nuts for some time,” she said indifferently as she stuffed more into her mouth.

I concluded that either she wasn’t brought up well or, more probably, she had been a problematic child.

The reason I have given this detailed story is that performance appraisals happen on two fronts: that of the supervisor and in the service industry, the clients also have a role in appraising their service providers. In this case, the police officers failed the client appraisal.

I however think their supervisors would have given them an appraisal of “always exceeds expectations” because when it comes to delivering their quota of kickbacks, they deliver.

A friend recently needed to move cargo from Nakuru to Nanyuki. The vehicle was new, the driver had a valid driving license and the cargo’s paperwork were all in order. Yet, the vehicle’s owner said the cost of hiring it included “tips” for the police, outward and inbound.

The driver even knew the exact number of likely stops (seven) and their locations. No wonder the cost of doing business in Kenya is so high. It was an eye-opener.

I believe all policemen, and in particular traffic officers, should have a log of their day’s work, a kind of Occurrence Book where they record everything they do. How many cars did they stop? Why? If the cars or driver did not have the right documents, or the car was faulty, what action they took?

How many drivers will be taken to court because of the traffic stops? This appraisal would deal with the endemic corruption among our policemen, and perhaps redeem their image.

The writer is a journalist and communications consultant