Give police officers cash for house allowances, says authority

A police house at Karatina Police Station, Nyeri County. About 63,000 officers live in deplorable conditions. [PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/STANDARD]

The Government has been asked to stop providing police officers with housing and instead give them allowances.

A study by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) recommended that the only exceptions to this should be specialised paramilitary police units.

The report said members of the General Service, Anti-Stock Theft, Rapid Deployment and Rural Border Patrol units, who need to be deployed with ease due to the nature of their work and services, should be given housing.

It said in far-flung and remote areas where housing for rent may not be readily available, the government should consider construction of houses for the officers but with use of cheap, cost effective and appropriate technology.

In the study, it emerged that more than 63,000 police officers are living in deplorable houses affecting their morale. The current police population is about 80,000.

IPOA found that of the group, 28,922 are regular officers while 35,000 are Administration Police.

Housing allowances for the police should be enhanced taking into consideration market forces, and rates applicable should be based on the location of police officers, IPOA said. IPOA Chairman Macharia Njeru described the situation as dire and urged authorities to urgently address it.

“Inadequate and poor housing was identified as one of the demoralising factors in the police service by the Ransley Report (2009),” said Mr Njeru.

He said by the end of the 2015 financial year, only 44 pilot housing units had been constructed by the National Housing Corporation at Ruai which were to set the standard for police housing.

The authority has now advised the Treasury and Interior ministry to develop and implement a National Police Service housing policy as the service has been operating without one.

“The policy should provide for implementation of the single-family occupancy per house policy in the entire service,” he said.

The report recommended that institutions like the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics do research to guide house allowance rates for the officers which would be reviewed after every two years.

“The allowance-based scheme will see police living among the public and this will go a long way in enhancing community policing and strengthening provision of better security in neighbourhoods,” read the report.