Controversy marred the recruitment of regular police officers in Laisamis after the local OCPD announced that he was under instruction to only pick youths from the Rendille community.
“Please do not waste your time if you are not a Rendille. This is the instruction I have from Nairobi,’’ Mr Philip Kipkirui told the hundreds of youths who turned up at the Laisamis Stadium on Monday before the exercise started.
Scores of youths from other communities who included the minority Isahak and Harti clans left the venue disappointed.
A youth from the Isahak clan and a Kikuyu, who were both born in Laisamis, defied the directive and took part in the exercise but were disqualified at medical test stage.
A total of 21 youths were recruited.
“I am aware of the complaint from other communities but the instruction I had was to pick only those from the Rendille tribe,’’ the OCPD said yesterday.
He said the order came from the National Police Recruitment Committee based in Nairobi.
Sources indicated that the committee may have been influenced by local politicians to conclude that Rendille are only indigenous to Laisamis and deserved to be given preferential treatment.
However, Rendille youths were also picked in Loiyangalani and Marsabit Central districts.
In the Administration Police recruitment in Laisamis, the exercise went on smoothly with Deputy County Commissioner Mutuko Mweenga allowing youths from all the communities to participate.
Ten youths were picked in the AP category, two of them from the Somali clan of Garre.
Yesterday, hundreds of protesters from minority tribes in Laisamis protested the decision to lock them out, terming it unconstitutional.
Abdi Mohamud, a businessman from Korr, termed the move to bar Isahak and Harti youths as discriminative and vowed to petition the national government and courts.
‘’Our great grand fathers came to Marsabit before the First World War. Saying that the Isahak and Harti are not from Laisamis or Loiyangalani is a creation of some politicians and this is unacceptable to us,’’ said Mr Mohamud.
The trader said they got information that their youths will not be recruited last Thursday.
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The Isahak and Harti were brought to Kenya by the British colonial government and settled in areas like Naivasha, Thika, Isiolo and Marsabit.
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