Tuesday, June 20, 2023 –Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has today taken a step to calm down the increasing cracks in the police department.
Speaking before a Parliamentary Committee sitting held in Nairobi today Tuesday June 20, the Cs noted that the institutional confrontation between the Inspector General of Police and the National Police Service Commission NPSC has its genesis in conflicting interpretations of the Constitution, the National Police Service Act, and the National Police Commission Act.
He, therefore, stated that the public exchanges between the IG and leadership of the National Police Service NPS Commission was needless and a violation of Chapter Six(6) of the Constitution, notwithstanding the merit of the grievances.
“As a policy directive, directed the Inspector General and the National Police Service Commission to resolve the outstanding issues, including promotion of police officers and recruitment of other staff members in accordance with the law.
“Order, sanity, and responsibility in the national security agencies is paramount in ensuring a safe and secure nation,” he directed.
And to avert a repeat of the friction between the two departments – Inspector General of Police Service and the National Police Service Commission – Prof Kindiki recommended that the Attorney General’s intervention to render a legal opinion on the roles, functions and responsibilities of the two institutions.
On that note, he said their Government is determined to professionalise and depoliticise the National Police Service, supply police officers with modern equipment, and protective gear to enable them to concentrate on combating national security threats which remains their core mandate.
This, Kindiki added, will help deal with terrorism, banditry, religious and cultural extremism, and the manufacture, trade, use and abuse of illicit alcoholic drinks, narcotic drugs and other psychotropic substances.
He was speaking this when he appeared before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security chaired by Hon. Gabriel Tongoy.