Meetings that stretched late into the night and the intervention of senior government officials—including Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei—helped resolve a standoff that had delayed the recruitment of 10,000 police officers as directed by President William Ruto, the Daily Nation can reveal.
Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
However, a dispute between Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Chairperson Dr Amani Komora stalled the process.
The impasse revolved around who, by law, has the mandate to conduct police recruitment.
The breakthrough came last Thursday night during a full commission meeting at the NPSC headquarters in CBK Pension Towers. The meeting, which lasted nearly until midnight, resolved that both the IG and the commission would jointly oversee the exercise.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen meets police officers at the county commissioner’s office in Homa Bay on September 16, 2025.
Photo credit: George Odiwuor | Nation
It was agreed that the IG and his team would handle the technical aspects of recruitment, including competence checks, while NPSC commissioners would provide oversight.
To facilitate this, the recruitment will be spread over six days, unlike in previous years when it was conducted in a single day.
However, the issue of who should be the custodian of the police payroll remains unresolved and was shelved for further discussion.
According to the timetable released by the commission, recruitment will run from October 3 to October 9.
A source familiar with the Thursday meeting confirmed that commissioners agreed on all contentious issues, including recruitment dates, after interventions by top-ranking government officials who mediated behind the scenes.
On September 8, while attending a security baraza in Nakuru County, CS Murkomen had pledged to meet the IG and commissioners to iron out differences.
Afterwards, he announced in a press statement that the parties had discussed recruitment and welfare matters affecting police officers.
National Police Service Commission Chairperson Dr Amani Yuda Komora (left) Inspector-General of Police, Douglas Kanja (centre) and NPSC CEO, Peter Leley appear before the Committee on Administration and Internal Security at the County Hall Nairobi on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“I shared with the Commission the key issues raised in our Jukwaa La Usalama forums, including officers’ strength and welfare that require their input and implementation. They also apprised me of the preparations made for the upcoming police recruitment,” CS Murkomen said.
Other sources indicated that Mr Koskei also held several closed-door meetings with the commission and police leadership in a bid to break the stalemate.
Earlier, on September 5, NPSC commissioners met in Mombasa at the Kenya School of Government.
That meeting failed to resolve the dispute but established a technical committee of police officers and commission officials to address the “technical issues” delaying recruitment. It also doubled as an induction meeting for new commissioners.
Following hours of deliberations, IG Kanja and Dr Komora, flanked by other commissioners, briefed the press, saying a roadmap for closer collaboration between the National Police Service and the commission had been agreed upon.
Among the unresolved matters was whether recruitment would follow the traditional physical model or adopt a new online application system, as proposed in NPSC guidelines subjected to public participation in August.
The advisory by the National Security Council pushing for online applications further complicated matters. Senior police officers, including the IG, Deputy Inspectors General Gilbert Masengeli and Eliud Lagat, and DCI boss Mohammed Amin, opposed the new system, arguing it had not been properly discussed or ratified by the commission.
“We have just seen communication on issues that, as a commission, we have never sat and agreed on. There are no minutes to show who attended the meeting that ratified these new recruitment guidelines. You cannot have one person driving an agenda and forcing decisions on other commissioners,” added another civilian member of the NPSC,” said one commissioner.
Last Saturday, the technical team was tasked with expediting its report and presenting it by Tuesday for deliberation.
Meanwhile, the commission also agreed that the IG would retain control of the police payroll despite a directive from Parliament to transfer it to the NPSC. Commissioners, however, will continue to have access when needed.
The payroll dispute has intensified tensions between the IG and the commission, amplified through a series of letters exchanged between IG Kanja and NPSC CEO Peter Leley.
In one letter dated August 6, Mr Leley informed the IG that the commission had withdrawn all powers previously delegated to him on human resource management.
The letter was copied to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, Treasury PS Dr Chris Kiptoo, National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge, and Bernice Lemedeket, Secretary Administration/Accounting Officer of the National Police Service.
“In view of the foregoing, and in full compliance with the constitution, Parliamentary committee resolution and the Taskforce recommendation, the commission hereby withdraws, with immediate effect, all instruments of delegation on any human resource management functions previously assigned to the office of the Inspector General and the secretary administration / Accounting officer,” Mr Leley wrote.
