Kikuyus, Kambas lead in composition of Police Service

Six of the major communities dominate in the number of police officers under the National Police Service (NPS) with Kikuyus topping with 18,004 representing 16.8 percent of the total workforce.

The Kamba community follows with 9,808 officers or 9.1 per cent, Luhya, 9,752, Meru, 7,121, Kisii with 6,517 and Kipsigis with 6,004 officers.

Appearing before the National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity Committee of the National Assembly, the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome said the distribution of the officers complied with the constitution.

Kiine said the National Police Service comprises three Services namely Kenya Police Service, Administration Police Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Currently the service has 106,830 members, of which 89,373 are male and 17,457 female. Male represent 84 percent and female 16 percent respectively.

“The National Police Service has put in place deliberate efforts in ensuring compliance with the Constitution. Almost all the ethnic groups are equitably  represented in the Service as depicted in tables numbered 1- 3. The Service has guiding policies and requirements that factor in ethnic, gender, regional  representation among other inclusivity considerations during recruitment,” Koome told the committee.

Ethnic grouping

He was however hard pressed to explain why the ethnic groups making the Kalenjin community had been split into sub tribes.

In the list tabled, the Kalenjin had been split to different sub-communities of the Nandi, Kipsigis, Marakwet and Pokot among others.

Shinyalu MP Fredrick Ikana questioned the composition of the Kalenjin community wondering why the same could not be done to the Luhya community, which is also made up of different ethnic groups.

“One thing which is not coming out clearly is why the commission has decided to split the Kalenjin community to different sub-tribes, is this a ploy to make it appear that the community is not advantaged in terms of distribution of officers? Posed Ikana. Koome however defended the distribution saying it was dictated by what the officers filled in the recruitment forms.

“Almost all the ethnic groups are equitably  represented in the Service.  The Service has guiding policies and requirements that factor in ethnic, gender, regional  representation among other inclusivity considerations during the recruitment,” explained the IG.

The Makonde and El Molo communities have the least number of officers with two (2), followed by the Indians with three (3) and Ribe with 14.

Equitable distribution

Koome also defended the recruitment slots for NPS officers saying they are equitably distributed to all documented tribes  in the country. “However not all tribes avail themselves for recruitment. To ensure  compliance, the service has opened recruitment centers at the sub-county level where eligible  candidates are recruited as per the defined administrative wards in the specific  sub-county,” said the IG.

He decried the huge shortage of officers in the country saying that with the current figures, one police officer is supposed to protect 951 civilians as compared to recommended United Nations ratio where one police officer is required to protect 450 civilians.

He said that the number of police officers actively engaged in fighting crime in the country is approximately 50,000 while the rest are deployed to specialized  units as well as VIP protection.

“This shows that the ratio of officers actively  engaged in fighting crime is extremely low, we need as a country to address this as a priority,” Koome said.

Members also wanted the NPS to address the issue of academic and physical requirements of those applying to join the service. In particular, the MPs want the IG to remove the dental formula as a requirement for those applying to join the force.

“I do not see what one’s dental formula has to do with providing security since biting is not one of the ways of fighting crime,” noted Ikana. In terms of academic qualifications, the legislators want it reviewed to grade D plain from D+.

Kasipul MP Ong’ondo Were wants the NPS to emulate the National Youth Service (NYS) who have adopted the grading and then have the officers promoted based on their performance.

“It has worked with the NYS why not at the NPS. We need to consider all our youths irrespective of their qualifications,” said Were.

However the IG dismissed the proposal saying the reason why the qualification was set at D plus is to have officers who can execute some of the duties of the police including appearing in courts and recording statements which required some level of qualifications. Koome said the NPS could not attract candidates with  desirable professional qualifications, in the past few years and high staff turnover to retain the already trained personnel were lured by attractive perks offered by the private  sector.

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