President Uhuru nominates Joseph Boinet to be Inspector General of Police

Kenya: President Uhuru Wednesday nominated Joseph Kipchirchir Boinet to be the Inspector-General of Police.

Mr Boinet is the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Principal Intelligence Officer based at the headquarters in Ruaraka.

Wednesday’s nomination followed the resignation of former IG David Kimaiyo on December 2. Kimaiyo and Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku resigned following an attack in Mandera in which 36 people were killed by terrorists.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Mr Kimaiyo as the chairman of the Kenya Airport Authority.

The IG nominee is a career policeman who joined the intelligence service in 1998. He is also a nephew to former National Security Intelligence Service director general Brig Wilson Boinett.

A statement from State House said the IG nominee has two Master's degrees, one in Security Management (Australia) and in Diplomacy from the United States.

He will have to be approved by the National Assembly in accordance with the new law before he is appointed to the position.

In the meantime, Deputy Inspector-General Samuel Arachi for Administration Police is expected to act as the IG pending Boinet's approval, State House said.

Boinet once served as a protocol officer at the ministry of Foreign Affairs until late 2013 when he went to Australia for his Masters. He was also a desk officer at the Harare and Rome missions.

His colleagues described him as a reserved officer. He is a father of three children.

His nomination ended days of anxiety since Kimaiyo resigned from office.

There has been anxiety after Kenyatta delayed in naming Arachi as acting IG as per the recommendation of the National Police Service Commission.

There have also been reports President Uhuru plans to overhaul the entire top leadership of the police service after the newly introduced controversial law gave him powers to appoint the holders.

Kimaiyo was the first IG under the new constitution 2010. Leaders from Kimaiyo's backyard in Elgeyo Marakwet had demanded that his successor be from the area.