Before the announcement of changes in the police service, the interior cabinet secretary professor Kithure Kindiki and police leadership met in Nairobi to streamline police operations as the country continues to grapple with sporadic insecurity cases.
Briefing the media after the meeting, CS Kindiki dismissed claims of a go-slow by the police that is allegedly encouraging a reawakening in banditry, violent robberies and other gang activities in Nairobi and other major towns in the country.
The CS however, said the police will prioritize the enforcement of public safety in Nairobi and other towns. A review of the officers’ salaries and other allowances and the general welfare will also be undertaken urgently in a process that will involve stakeholders including the public.
“The review includes everything about policing, their equipment, their salaries, their housing, their mortgages, and their health care. The whole idea is to adjust it to the cost of living, but also to make it at least as near at par as possible with the other carders who have equal standing within the public sector,” he said.
He also said that the government is keen to promote an anti-political police force saying officers will not be forced into taking political sides or performing extraneous duties outside their code of conduct.
“We want our police officers to concentrate on maintaining law and order. Our intention is to make the police a professional service so that it can serve the people of Kenya irrespective of their political persuasions. And we’ll leave politics to politicians,” the cs noted.
The meeting was also attended by deputy inspector general Noor Gabow and Edward Mbugua, DCI boss Amin Mohamed and the NPS principal administrative secretary Bernice Sialaal Lemedeket who is also the accounting officer.
The cs hailed the appointment of MS Lemedeket as a confirmation of the government’s intention to respect and uphold the financial and operational independence of the police in line with president William Ruto’s election pledge.
By Marion Wafula
