Is Deputy IG, Grace Kaindi, being allegedly overshadowed by her boss Kimaiyo?

She goes by the nickname ‘Mteja’, derived from mobile phone automatic reply Kenyans sometimes use to mock an unavailable subscriber.

This is the tag Deputy Inspector General of Police Grace Kaindi wears in reference to her ‘invisibility’ among her peers and subordinates.

She is reportedly ridiculed by fellow officers as a little more than a decorated pet, while subordinates, frustrated by her detachment from the goings on in the police service, have ascribed to her the “mteja hapatikani” code.

But Kaindi says she is on course to marking key milestones in her tenure as deputy IG in efforts to transform the institution from a ‘force’ to a ‘service’.

“The Inspector General is head of the police service and is leading from the front. I am also doing my part,” Kaindi said in response to questions about her supposed invisibility.

Since her appointment in January last year, observers say she has hardly made an impact in the transformation of the police service.

Her ‘missing in action’ has many times forced Inspector General David Kimaiyo to climb down the rank of hierarchy to take on responsibilities set aside by law for his deputy.

Kaindi is accused of ceding her powers to Kimaiyo, who is deeply involved in all security operations, while she only makes cameo appearances in crime scenes, as was the case during the Westgate terror attacks and the inter-ethnic violence in Wajir on July 14.

Her apparent unavailability has elicited so much debate, with some people even claiming a woman should not hold such a demanding and sensitive position.

Kaindi says that despite the misgivings and aspersions cast on her capability, she is up to the task, although she can only undertake what has been assigned her by the Inspector General.

Speaking to The Nairobian a day after she returned from Wajir, where fighting between two Somali clans resulted in the loss of 20 lives, Kaindi said the police service is under the IG.

The fighting in Wajir escalated just hours after more than 20 people were killed in Mpeketoni, Lamu, by attackers believed to be Al-Shabaab militants.

“There is no problem in the police service. The IG is in charge,” she responded when asked about why she is ‘mteja.’

The Nairobian: You are accused of being a hands-off head of the Kenya Police Service. What do you understand to be your mandate if the IG is doing what you are supposed to be doing?

Kaindi: If people are calling me that (mteja), it is their opinion. What am I supposed to do when I have no equipment? I have no people (personnel)?

The Nairobian: But do you understand what your position entails? What are your specific responsibilities? Has the IG taken over your functions? What exactly do you do?

Kaindi: That is a whole lecture. If you want to know what I do, pop (sic) into my office!

 

The chairman of the National Police Service Commission, Johnston Kavuludi would not field questions on why Kaindi has been overshadowed by Kimaiyo. Instead, he referred The Nairobian to the law that spells out the functions of the two offices.

According to the National Police Service Act, Kaindi is head of Kenya Police Service (previously known as regular police), while Samuel Arachi is in charge of Administration Police Service (formerly administration police).

According to the law, Kimaiyo’s job is to coordinate the functions of the two units and is supposed to report to the president.

In this context, the commanders of the Kenya Police Service and Administration Police Service are Kaindi and Arachi respectively.

Security experts say that in defence of Kaindi and Arachi, it is Kimaiyo who is interfering by failing to discharge his roles and has instead usurped the duties of commander vested in his juniors.

An officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police explains: “In reality, Kimaiyo has denied Kaindi and Arachi a chance to report to him because he is doing what the two should be doing.”