Commission must not demean senior police officers

By Denis Kodhe

Kenya: It is wrong and demeaning for the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to interrogate senior police officers as if they are in a courtroom. Vetting is not interrogation. NPSC has no role or mandate to make senior police officers look like criminals who have no right to own property or live in certain residential areas.

The ongoing vetting of police officers by NPSC has left a lot to be desired. It has also raised serious concerns regarding the objective, goal and ultimate result of the exercise.

Kenyans expected the Kavuludi Commission to look for credibility, capability and merit from the officers rather than resorting to petty issues and witch-hunting, which had no basis at all.

What the officers own, how they acquired what they have and the amount of money they are holding in their private bank accounts has nothing to do with the objective of the Commission.

NPSC is not a court. It has neither jurisdiction nor mandate to determine how the police officers acquired their wealth.

Furthermore, the police officers are not the only ones involved in corruption and other malpractices in the society. They should not be sacrificed and condemned alone.

Corruption is a disease that has spread like cancer among Kenyan politicians and leading businessmen and women are wealthy today not because they have worked so hard to achieve and earn what they have but because of dubious underhand dealings and corruption.

Chapter Six of the Constitution is very clear about leadership and integrity. Although there is a clause in the Constitution on declaration of wealth before seeking leadership positions, it has not been applied.

The commission vetting police officers has dented  and completely compromised the image of the force to the extent that almost everybody believes that the whole police force is corrupt.

The Commission should be informed that not all policemen and women are corrupt. Most of them are men and women of high integrity, despite the fact that just like any other organisation or institution, there are a few rotten potatoes that should be rooted out.

It is true that some policemen and women are corrupt or are involved in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking, kidnapping and carjackings. These few elements have adversely affected the image and credibility of police as a force.

But majority of officers in the police force, more so junior officers, are loyal, honest and hardworking. They earn their salaries and promotions through determination.

Unlike in the past, most police officers today are well educated and highly qualified professionals. 

Senior police officers in the ranks of Officers Commanding Police Stations, Officers Commanding Police Divisions, Inspectors, Provincial Police Officers, Regional Commanders, Assistant and Deputy Commissioners of Police, Deputy Inspector Generals or the Inspector General himself are respectable people who have served the police force diligently in various capacities and positions in different locations, rising through the ranks.

Like any other Kenyan, police officers have a right to work hard to improve their skills and own property. I do not see anything wrong with police officers living in Karen, Muthaiga or other posh residential areas in Nairobi and around the country. Posh residential areas are not the preserve of, or restricted to, a certain category of people.

Everybody, including police officers, have a right to live where they want to as long as they can affor to do so.

Corruption has destroyed the future of many countries in Africa, including Kenya. It must be eradicated, not only in the police force, but also in other sectors of the Government.

But even as we fight corruption, professionals should be encouraged to prosper and develop a strong middle class.

In the past, after the Ndegwa Commission, civil servants were not allowed to be involved in business, but that restriction has since been lifted. Civil servants today are among the richest Kenyans today because of corruption through tendering and Government contracts.

Kavuludi should concentrate on issues to do with integrity and merit rather than intimidate senior police officers and expose them to public ridicule.

Security forces play a fundamental role in ensuring peace, stability and maintenance of order in the country. As such, it is dangerous to expose their identities to criminals.

Issues to do with security forces, whether military or police, should be handled discreetly to ensure those findings and whatever action taken is done in a respectable manner. 

The writer is Executive Director, Institute for Democracy & Leadership in Africa- IDEA.