Why Matiang'i's security plans could be slowed down

The Interior Cabinet secretary's plans to hire 20,000 new police officers was queried when he presented his budget proposals to Parliament on Tuesday.

The National Assembly’s Security and National Administration Committee queried Dr Fred Matiang'i's budgetary request for Sh4 billion for the recruitment after the ministry indicated that Kenya had surpassed the United Nation’s target ratio of one officer to 450 civilians.

“If it is true that at the moment our ratio stands at 1:400. It means that you do not need to recruit more officers, we could re-allocate the Sh4 billion that you have factored for this,” said Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu.

But Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet defended the proposal, saying the recruitment was largely to replace police officers who had either died in the line of duty or left the service.

Line of duty

The ministry was also unhappy with the National Treasury's slashing of its budget by Sh61 billion.

Matiang'i was leading top ministry officials in defending their department's budget request of Sh192.31 billion, which had been reduced to Sh130.87 billion the National Treasury had proposed to grant the department in the 2018/2019 financial year.

In his bid to win over Parliament, Matiang'i had used key thematic areas in coming up with the budget, which could now be slowed due to budget constraints.

The CS quoted other key projections for the department as acquisition of 10,000 motorcycles for chiefs and their assistants, 2,000 more bikes for the National Police Service, installation of the third-generation identity cards, and disaster preparedness.

New officers

Key priorities include recruitment of 20,000 new officers, acquisition of 20,000 housing units for the officers, expansion of eight training schools, putting up of 54 offices for national government administration officers, and acquisition of modern printing equipment.

The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) also protested that its key programmes risked being hampered unless the Sh552 million allocated to it was enhanced.

Not accomplish

The commission, which is in its last year before its term ends in September, complained that it may not accomplish its targets due to lack of funds

It protested that while it had asked for Sh1.1 billion to run the programmes, the budget had been slashed to Sh552 million, leaving it with a deficit of Sh561 million that it now had to source through other means.

“NPSC has a practical budget and what was allocated by the Treasury is not
practical. It will make our work very difficult,” the commission chairman, Johnson Kavuludi, said on Tuesday.