Police officers during a past pass-out parade at the National Police College Main Campus Kiganjo in Nyeri County.
Authorities are racing against time to beat the October deadline for admission of 10,000 recruits to police college.
The initial plan was to hold the police recruitment in the first week of September and have the recruits report to college by October 1.
But divisions within the National Police Service Commission have threatened to derail the exercise, with turf wars between police commanders and civilian commissioners escalating to crisis-level.
The budget for the exercise has also not been provided yet because of the incessant wrangles.
Focus is now on the newly appointed commission chairperson Dr Amani Komora to broker a truce if the team is to beat the October deadline to recruit new officers.
Together with the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and his two duties, commissioners will have to work overdrive if new recruits are to be admitted to police colleges according to plan.
Dr Komora, who was sworn into office last week, has convened a full commission meeting on Friday at the commission offices at CBK Pension Towers.
Mr Amani Yuda Komora.
An invite seen by the Nation states that besides the introduction of Dr Komora, planned recruitment is also on the agenda.
Restore harmony
Speaking after he took oath of office last Friday, Dr Komora promised to restore harmony and teamwork at the commission.
“We will build a cohesive and unified NPSC, taking into account that divisions would undermine our ability to achieve our mandate. Unity of purpose will be our focus,” Dr Komora said.
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He assumes leadership of the commission in the middle of disagreements between the uniformed and civilian commissioners over the running of affairs in the National Police Service.
The IG and his two deputies have differed with commission CEO Peter Luley on the use of a new recruitment system. The police bosses do not support the implementation of the online application system.
An advisory by the National Security Council that the new system of recruitment where candidates are required to apply online has further complicated matters.
The commissioner has held countrywide public hearings on the proposed system.
Mr Kanja, his two deputies Gilbert Masengeli and Eliud Lagat as well as Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohammed Amin have opposed the new guidelines.
They argue the system was being rushed without being discussed during the commission meetings.
“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,” said one commissioner who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“You cannot have one person driving an agenda and forcing the decision on other commissioners,” added another commissioner.
The infighting has been amplified in a series of letters between Mr Kanja and Mr Leley.
In a letter dated August 6, sent to the IG and copied to other top government officials, Mr Leley said the commission had withdrawn all powers it had delegated to the IG touching on human resource management.
The letter is copied to Auditor General Nancy Gathungu , Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo , National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge and Bernice Lemedeket, who is the Secretary Administration/ Accounting Officer, NPS.
In its exit report handed to the president in April, the previous team led by Eliud Kinuthia asked the new team to look into transfer of officers.
The report noted that police chiefs only forward the list of transferred officers to the commission after the changes have been effected.
The recommendation is that police chiefs should first forward the names and particulars of officers whom they intend to transfer to the commission before the affected officers can move to their new stations.
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President Ruto while receiving the report said there was a need to continue reforming the police service address challenges such as irregular hiring and skewed promotions.
“Even as we acknowledge this success, we also recognize the challenges that remain and demand our urgent focus and attention. Issues such as irregular police recruitment, budgetary constraints and the need for a sustainable police welfare program me must be addressed without equivocation, “the president said.
The report however fell short of outlining the effects of the incessant fights between the commissioners and the police leadership.
