All police officers to earn house allowances in new move

The Treasury has agreed to pay house allowances to 70,000 junior police officers.

This is part of efforts to address a long-standing accommodation crisis within the police service as well as empower the officers to own homes.

Of the 108,000-strong police population, only officers of the rank of inspector and above earn house allowances.

The office of the Inspector General has dispatched teams to go round the country and collect views from officers on the issue before they present their report next month.

“The money will be factored in the next Budget. This will boost the officers in many ways and save the Government almost Sh2 billion a year that we have been paying in electricity, water and other bills,” said an official with knowledge of the plans.

The scheme will also save more than Sh1 billion that the Government has been paying to lease houses across the country. “Some of these leased houses are charged exorbitantly because the owners are top Government officials or connected in one way or the other,” the official added.

The Government pays up to Sh28,000 for each of the leased officers’ houses.

Personnel from General Service Unit, Rapid Deployment Unit, Rural Border Patrol Unit, Presidential Escort Unit and those in training colleges will not benefit from the proposed allowances. Instead, they will earn special allowances, which they can also use to pay for accommodation, the official said.

As part of the formalisation process, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has sought views from sectional heads in the department on whether officers of the ranks of sergeant, corporal and constable should also be included in the scheme.

Internal memo

DCI’s Director of Logistics Julius Sunkuli sent an internal memo to senior officers on the matter. “You are required to give views on whether members of other ranks should be given allowances to rent their own houses,” Mr Sunkuli said in the memo.

The increasing number of police personnel has led to a housing crisis, forcing most officers to share houses.

Currently, a police constable is paid approximately Sh3,000 as housing supplementation, Sh5,000 for corporals in Nairobi and approximately Sh3,500-Sh3,800 in other regions.

A senior sergeant and an inspector of police are paid approximately Sh6,000 in Nairobi and approximately Sh3,500-Sh5,500 in other regions.

A chief inspector in Nairobi gets Sh25,000 . An officer of similar rank elsewhere earns approximately Sh6,000-Sh9,500.

An assistant Inspector General (AIG) of police gets Sh40,000 while a senior AIG gets Sh60,000 within Nairobi. The allowance varies in other regions.

The Government is currently building houses as part of a Sh20 billion project to provide decent accommodation for the security officers.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) had in 2016 asked the Government to stop providing police officers with housing and instead give them allowances.

The Ipoa study recommended that the only exceptions should be specialised paramilitary police units, and in far-flung and remote areas where houses may not be readily available.

Ipoa said more than 63,000 police officers were living in deplorable conditions, affecting their morale. Ipoa chair Macharia Njeru described the situation as dire.

The authority has now advised the Treasury and Interior ministry to develop and implement a National Police Service housing policy.