Attorney General opposes bid to strip IG of powers to control police payroll

From left: NPSC Chair Amani Yuda, Police IG Douglas Kanja, DIG Eliud Lagat, DCI Director Mohamed Amin before the National Assembly CIOC Committee at Mini Chambers, Nairobi, September 16, 2025. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Attorney General Dorcas Oduor has told the High Court that the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has no express constitutional mandate over payroll management, insisting that the function lies with the Inspector General of Police.

Responding to a petition filed by lobby group Sheria Mtaani and lawyer Shadrack Wambui over the standoff between Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and the NPSC on control of the multi-billion-shilling police payroll, Oduor said the petitioners were misrepresenting the law by claiming that Article 246 assigns payroll duties to the commission.

“No provision in the Constitution expressly assigns payroll management or financial administration to the commission. The commission’s role is to set policy on human resources, not to handle the day-to-day financial ledger of the police,” Oduor said through State counsel Jackline Kiramana.

She told the court that payroll administration underpins promotions, transfers, and discipline, all areas constitutionally protected as the domain of the Inspector General under Article 245(2)(b).

“Displacing the IG’s control of payroll would upset the balance of authority and compromise the chain of command within the Service,” she argued.

Court documents show the dispute surfaced publicly on August 4, 2025, and was raised before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, which directed the IG to cede payroll management to the Commission.

The lobby, represented by lawyer Danstan Omari, are challenging what they describe as the unlawful takeover of the police payroll by the IG. 

They want conservatory orders issued to stop the IG and the National Police Service from interfering with payroll systems, pending the determination of the case.

In their pleadings, the petitioners argue that unilateral control of the payroll risks manipulation of records, frustrates disciplinary procedures, and poses a threat to national security.

But Oduor dismissed those fears as speculative, saying the petitioners had failed to meet the threshold for interim relief.

The Attorney General has asked the court to dismiss the petition, insisting that granting the orders would “upend the constitutional balance between the Inspector General and the Commission, and imperil the Service’s chain of command.”

 “A conservatory order is an extraordinary remedy. It cannot be issued on the basis of conjecture without factual proof of violation,” she stated.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi  directed the application seeking conservatory orders to be heard today, September 30, 2025.