The National Assembly has ordered that reporting date for new police recruits be postponed, pending a House probe on alleged recruitment malpractices.
Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso allowed demands by MPs that the reporting of the recruits for training be put on hold until the House investigates the matter, which has generated heat over claims that it was marred by several vices.
Members demanded that issues of corruption, nepotism, regional imbalances and discrimination be investigated by the House committee on Administration and National Security, and a report be tabled before the House. "I will make the order that the reporting date be postponed until the matter is concluded," ruled Laboso, while asking the committee that it moves with speed.
Members have queried the procedure that was used to pick the recruits, with allegations of open corruption being raised. John Mbadi (Suba) said the House had an oversight role and asked the Chair to pronounce herself on the matter. "Article 95 of the Constitution gives the Parliament an oversight role. The reporting date must be pushed forward," urged Mbadi.
Chris Wamalwa (Kiminini) claimed that families had been left in agony after they sold their property to have their kin join the police service.
The heat generated by the fiasco led the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to declare that it would conduct and audit the exercise. The commission noted it would annul the exercise in places where malpractices would be unearthed.
But Samuel Gichigi (Kipipiri) wondered how the NPSC could conduct an audit yet it was at the centre of the debacle. The House moved to stamp its authority even as the Chair of the Security Committee Asman Kamama confirmed that his team wants Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku to appear before it and shed light on complaints. "Give instructions that Lenku should appear before the committee on Monday," Kamama asked the Chair.
It further emerged that other agencies, including the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC), Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation had been summoned by the committee on Thursday last week but failed. IPOA is also said to have boycotted a joint investigation team formed by the NPSC and the EACC. The agencies, according to Kamama will appear on Monday, on the same day the Lenku is also expected to appear.
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