Choking off recruitment of new officers into the Police force is hardly a move meant to improve the service. While there are some capacity constraints in training facilities and provision of housing, the advantages of a larger force outweigh the disadvantages of hiring to proposed targets.
An interim report prepared by a taskforce led by Justice Phillip Ransley proposes a freeze on hiring of new police officers among other measures to spur reform. It argues that political interference in recruitment, promotions and transfers is on such a scale there must be an immediate ‘moratorium’ on them. We do not doubt that influential individuals have long practiced corruption, abuse of office, tribalism and nepotism in influencing recruitments. But the interim solution, as we await the reform of the police service, should be strengthening recruitments. It should be a simple matter to have external observers invited to keep an eye on things.
This newspaper has long been bullish on a larger police force whose on-the-beat staff complement is closer to international standards on police to population ratios. One of the main attractions of a Waki Commission proposal to merge the Administration Police Unit and the ‘regular’ force, was the huge increase in law enforcement officers.
Naturally, this would have to come with an improvement of terms and conditions of service at a cost. But it is essential to the success of police reforms, whether as suggested by Waki team or by the police themselves.
Strategic Plan
Growing lawlessness and new threats to life and property make scaling up of law enforcement in Kenya absolutely necessary.
At 1:836, the police to population ratio has some way to go before meeting the United Nations’ 1:450 standard. The recruitment plans revealed in the 2008-12 Kenya Police Strategic Plan — some 20,000 in the next three years — are significant, but would have to be doubled to meet the set standard. Vigilance House has a specific interest in increasing the number of officers trained in forensic evidence and speeding up establishment of a forensic laboratory at the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters.
Recruitment of staff for such tasks is surely less likely to attract the same practices seen in hiring of rank and file police. The effect of these changes to the detection or prevention of crime should not be delayed on account of fiddling with provincial recruitment lists in the past. Unless the taskforce has a stronger reason to be elaborated in their final report, this is one idea we disagree with.
Most of the other proposals in the report are spot on: Ransley’s team echoes Philip Alston’s controversial recomendation for visible change of the top leadership. As we argued when Alston said it, this is not a suggestion to dismiss or embrace out of hand.
The Ransley team’s definition of top leadership includes Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and AP Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua, both of whom have overseen significant improvements in the police as far as equipment and operations go. Rank and file officers are still poorly equipped and suffer low morale, and criminality and corruption are alarmingly high. But the case for their departure should not be built on public perception alone.
One observation of interest is on the need for an information campaign to promote a new attitude among the public to police alongside reforms. For this to rise above a PR exercise, there have to be signs reforms are underway.
Visible Change
Having more officers is an immediate, visible change that can help with other reforms. As the team notes, the police work longer hours than most Government employees on similar pay. In circumstances like these, reporting corrupt colleagues means taking on more work. If there were more hands on deck, presumably paid a decent wage, the rooting out of rogue elements would be easier.
Transfers, the taskforce found, are a major bone of contention. They touch on the housing crisis within the force and the shortage of cash to pay transfer allowances. They too can be minimised in a larger force, starting the police on the way to change.
