New Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja takes office as questions swirl over his suitability for the job. There are concerns over his academic qualifications and age, with many security observers saying that at 61, he should be looking at retirement.
Kanja, who took the reins at Vigilance House on Thursday, September 19, after formal appointment by President William Ruto, following approval by the Senate and the National Assembly, was on a two-year extension as Deputy Inspector-General, Kenya Police Service.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula claimed that the IG was a State officer, not a public officer, and therefore not subject to the mandatory retirement age of 60.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja taking the oath of office at the Supreme Court.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation
All government employees are public officers. However, State officers are holders of offices listed under Article 260 of the Constitution. The President, his deputy, Cabinets secretaries, the Chief of Defence Forces, Director-General of the National Intelligence Service, the Inspector-General and his deputies, the Attorney-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Principal secretaries, the Secretary to Cabinet, MPs, judges and magistrates are some of the listed State officers. Some of these listed state offices have age limits.
“He is entitled to serve as the IG if the appointing authority approves. The President has no restriction on who to appoint and it is not the first time this has happened when a state officer has been appointed. There are some peculiar qualities and competencies that we cannot restrict,” said the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) chairman Eliud Kinuthia.
During his vetting for the IG’s job, Kanja presented a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) Degree from the defunct Inoreero University, although a year ago, during his vetting for the position of Deputy Inspector-General of Police, he told interviewers at NPSC that he did not have a degree.
LIVE: Senate proceedings on Police IG nominee Douglas Kanja's vetting
President Ruto earlier this year declared that all civil servants must retire at 60. Head of Public Service Felix Kosgey also shared the same in a government memo.
Kanja will be the fifth IG since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. He has had a four-decade career that began in 1985 and rose through the ranks at the General Service Unit (GSU) where he started and served for five years. He was also a deputy commandant for three years, deputy Kenya Airports Police Unit deputy commandant and Chief Armourer at Vigilance House.
Interestingly, Kanja will serve in a sensitive State position alongside two of his ‘village-mates’, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (CDF) Charles Kahariri. They all come from Mathira Constituency.
They will all sit in the country’s topmost security outfit, the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC).
He takes office from the besieged DIG Administration Police Service, Gilbert Masengeli, who has been sentenced to a six-month jail term by Justice Lawrence Mugambi for contempt of court.
Masengeli, an officer with a stellar career, has failed to appear in person before Justice Mugambi as ordered due to work demands resulting in the sentence.
The judge declined to listen to Deputy Inspector-General Eliud Langat, who had been sent to represent the acting IG in court. He had been summoned by the court over the disappearance of three youth abducted by unknown persons in Kitengela. However, Kanja is not the first IG whose academic qualifications have come under scrutiny.
Then-IG David Kimaiyo faced ridicule over his funny pronunciation of the word ‘siege’ during the Westgate terror attack. He holds a PhD in Theology and an Msc in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
The two degrees were obtained in 2008 when he was serving in the demanding position of Director of Operations, KPS. Kimaiyo was succeeded by veteran intelligence tsar Joseph Boinett.
The soft-spoken National Intelligence Service (NIS) operative, who is currently the deputy National Security Advisor, has two Masters degrees in security, and a BA in diplomacy. Boinett based his policing on intelligence while serving as the IG until 2019 when he was replaced by another NIS operative, Hillary Mutyambai, who has a Masters in security.
His successor, Japheth Koome, held a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nairobi.
