New police recruits could be deployed to man elections, commission reveals

Successful police recruits could be deployed to help man polls in August, just three months into their training.

National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Commissioner Ronald Musengi said the Government could be forced to cut short the training of the recruits to ensure there were enough police officers manning the elections.

“It usually takes nine months before an officer graduates. However, in three months they will have undergone a significant amount of training that could allow the Government to deploy them to help with the election if the need arises,” Mr Musengi said in Nyeri yesterday. He said a similar step was taken in 2013.

Meanwhile, The police recruitment in Mt Kenya region was off to a slow start.

Handful of applicants

Unlike in previous years when thousands of people turned up for the exercise, only a handful of applicants turned up at different listing centres.

From Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga and Embu, recruiters had to deal with not-so-big a number.

A large number of hopeful youths turned up for police recruitment at Siakago Stadium in Embu County to try their luck.

Some 21 men and six women passed the initial requirements and were driven to a hospital for medical examinations. Two men were disqualified for having discoloured teeth.

However, some of the unsuccessful applicants who spoke to The Standard said the process was not fair.

The officer in charge of recruitment at the Siakago station however declined to talk to the media until they concluded the exercise. The recruitment was also uneventful in other parts of the county where hundreds of youths turned up.

In Nyeri’s Ruring’u Stadium, youths opted to stay away from the recruitment and those who showed up had to brave the early morning cold to earn a spot in the National Police Service.

At Chaka Centre in Kieni East, only 72 people turned up. Police said they would recruit 22 youths out of those who turned up.