Lenku: Police vetting process to start in two weks time

By Antony Gitonga

NAIVASHA, KENYA: The long awaited police vetting will start in two weeks time with senior officers being the first to go through the exercise.

According to the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Joseph Ole Lenku, the exercise was long overdue.

He said that they expect the first phase targeting senior officers to be through by March 2014 before moving to the lower ranks.

"The force is large with over 80,000 officers and we expect the whole exercise to end in eighteen months," said Lenku.

He assured the country that the government was committed to the exercise in terms of funding as was part of the ongoing police reforms.

He admitted that the vetting exercise required huge resources to compensate those officers who would leave adding that treasury was ready.

Lenku said that the process would help weed out bad apples and give the force credibility and change the perception of rotten force.

The CS was speaking during the closure of a two day vetting of the national police in Great Rift Valley Lodge Naivasha.

He said that the process would be free and fair noting that the already developed vetting tool would help steer the process.

On his part, the Inspector General David Kimaiyo said that he was committed to police reforms adding that the vetting process would help achieve this.

He assured his officers that the vetting would not be a witch-hunting exercise saying it would help them review their power and experience.

"I and my deputies have been vetted and its time for all other officers to follow suit as part of the ongoing police reforms," he said.

Kimaiyo defended the police force over runway crime noting that reported cases this year had dropped by over 4,000 cases compared to last year.

"There are new emerging cases like those of kidnapping and we are addressing them and there is no difference between regular police and administration police officers," he said.

On his part the chairman National Police Service Commission Johnston Kavuludi said that they were in the process of forming vetting regulations.

He said that they would in one week appoint a secretariat adding that the vetting tool had been developed and validated.

"Some officers are uncertain about their jobs but we want to assure them that this exercise will be free and fair," he promised.

Tony Kagwe from the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) said that vetting would not solve the tens of problems facing the force.

He identified the problems as low budget, poor housing, low morale, few equipment and outdated machines.

"The process will however institute new culture of accountability and transparency, fight corruption and weed our bad apples," he said.