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National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has vowed to reclaim its mandate of recruitment, transfers and promotions of Police officers in the National Police Service (NPS).

This comes after the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome purported to transfer and promote several police officers, sparking debate on the mandate of the NPSC and the NPS.

Yesterday, while appearing before the Senate National Cohesion and Equality Committee, the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Leley said that the commission will stick to its mandate as espoused in the constitution.

Article 246 (3) of the Constitution states that the Commission shall recruit and appoint persons to hold or act in offices in the service, confirm appointments, and determine promotions and transfers within the National Police Service.

“We shall perform our functions without fear or favour. We will not allow the National Police Service to take over our core functions as provided for in the Constitution,” Leley said.

Leley told the Marsabit Senator lawmaker Mohammed Chute led committee that although the issue has been subjected to mediation on the role of the IG in promotions and transfer, the commission will not cede any ground as long as it is a function expressly stated in the constitution.

Senator Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu) said that there is need to have political good will if independent commissions should be allowed to work and function independently.

“Independent commissions should be allowed to work and function independently. They will only function if there is good will. The NPS should now allow the NPSC to work within their mandate and the law. Let go what is not within your mandate,” Mandago said.

According to Mandago, the framers of the constitution laid the responsibility of promotion and transfers in the hands of the commission and not the National Police Service, which he claimed was promoting non-deserving police officers.

Mandago said that for a long time, promotions have been done based on tribalism, nepotism and corruption, adding that the role of the Commission should remain professional so that deserving police officers are the only ones promoted.

“You find a police officer moving from Harambee Avenue and Vigilance House and within a few months, the person is promoted while a police officer who has been serving in the border of Kenya and Somalia takes 10 years without a promotion. What skills has someone acquired in moving from one lift to another in Nairobi that warrants a promotion?” posed Mandago.

He went on, “The Inspector General of Police should be told to read the law. They wanted financial autonomy and they have been given. If we can effectively the issues of transfers and promotions, we shall have an effective Police service.”

But Leley told the committee that if the Commission is allowed to carry out its full mandate without interference, especially on recruitment, bribery and corruption claims will be a thing of the past.

According to Leley, the recruitment of Police officers by the National Police Service has been riddled with massive corruption, a move that has seen some Kenyans duped after selling their parcels of land to land the vacancies.

“If the commission is left to carry out its mandate as stipulated in the Constitution, candidates selling a piece of land to be recruited in the police service will be a thing of the past,” Leley said.

Already Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Eric Theuri said the law does not allow Koome to make appointments or determine promotions in the National Police Service.

Last week, the Labour Court suspended the promotions of 514 officers, allegedly elevated illegally by Koome.