Concern over trained but dismissed police recruits

As Kenyans ponder over the shocking case of the Administration Police Superintendent who used a relative’s certificates to build a 22-year-old career, questions are being asked over the large numbers of recruits who drop midway through training.

The National Police Service Commission revealed that Charles Nyakeri used his cousin Nelson Omwenga Nyakundi’s Form Four certificates to secure employment and for over two decades rose through the ranks to position of superintendent.

The finding brings to the fore the rot rife in police training colleges, where several recruits go through sensitive training only to be discharged before graduation, something security experts warn could pose national danger.

It seems the security personnel in the training institutions have no swift way of proving authenticity of certificates presented by recruits.

In the recent past, training for 22 police recruits at the Kiganjo Police Training College was cut short after most were found to have presented forged certificates.

On December 16, last year, 16 recruits were charged with forging and presenting false academic documents.

State supervision

Dr Simiyu Werunga, the Director of African Centre for Security Studies, said the trend could pose security challenges for homeland security.

“Discharging to the society paramilitary trained recruits to well organised criminal gangs is dangerous, they might seek revenge after being rejected by the State,” Werunga said. “The Kenya Police Service (KPS) is to blame for not verifying documents prior to the recruits being absorbed,” he said.

He said after discharge, such recruits should be placed under State supervision for a minimum three years to check on their progress. He added that the training and subsequent dismissal had social and economic consequences because a substantial amount is used to train a single police officer. The Independent Police Oversight Authority Chairman Macharia Njeru recommends that sufficient time be set aside between the recruitment and the reporting date to enable authentication of documents presented at recruitment centres.

“The National Security Intelligence Service should be deployed to the ground to provide information and thoroughly check on recruits background,” he said.

He added that retired Judge Philip Ransley’s report on police reforms in 2008 recommended the exercise be a process other than a one-day affair.

And like Werunga, he proposes establishment of a data bank, where details of those dishonestly dismissed are kept, with a view of monitoring their activities, as per the Ransley report.

He noted that the force was still reeling in corruption, saying the 2014 exercise was discontinued after several organisations went to court to have it stopped, citing massive corruption. “It does not take rocket science to know that those discharged from the disciplined forces and who are well trained pose a security threat, while they have already spent a substantial amount of taxpayers money,” he said.

But police spokesman Charles Owino, however, downplayed the likely threat posed by those dismissed, terming it negligible.

He said there is no way the KPS would retain a person who forged academic credentials. “Verification of documents is a tricky affair because they can be genuine but belong to another person,” he said.

He said majority of certificates are genuine but held by the wrong person, adding that verification process takes time.

The spokesperson explained that in the forces, one can be sent away even on the pass out day.

He acknowledged that corruption might be rife in the force, but  was not exclusive to the service, terming it a vice entrenched in all levels of society.