Police recruitment won’t seal cracks in force

The police recruitment is set to commence. Although the exercise was scheduled well before the killings of State security officers in Suguta Valley, one can’t help but feel the timing is unfortunate.

Inevitably, one would have hoped that someone would have the presence of mind to realise that carrying out police recruitment now would be akin to walking over the bodies of those officers slain in service of their countries. Their blood is still crying out from the ground for justice, but their replacements are already being lined up, a reminder that in the State security industry, the dead pale into insignificance.

But should they? Is this how the Government should treat those entrusted with securing property and lives? Families of the slain officers are still burying their loved ones, while other officers are still missing and bodies remain unidentified in the mortuary.  It is also poignant that many of those killed by the hardened cattle rustlers in Suguta Valley were fresh-faced recruits who had just recently graduated from the Administration Police training school in Embakasi, Nairobi, and were yet to earn their first salaries.

Traumatised

Yes, there have been calls for the Government to counsel the bereaved, but what about the search and rescue team that had to pick and transport their remains to Baragoi and Nairobi?

They too must be severely traumatised by what they have seen, and should also get counselling.

And what about the rest of the police force? What goes through their minds after seeing their colleagues treated so shamefully by their employer?

It is safe to say that it is not just those killed that are traumatised, but the entire force.

The recruitment process must go on, but the Kenya Police Service must confront questions over the manner in which the State treats fallen officers who die in the line of duty and their families.

These are defining moments for the Kenya Police Service. The General Election is due on March 4 next year, but in between are challenges, including fighting terrorists and the rising insecurity that is emboldening the criminally inclined.

Morale in the police force is at an all-time low. Recruiting more officers is necessary, but the state of mind of those already in service is equally important.

There are many unanswered questions over the killing of police officers, whether they fall to bullets from bandits in Suguta Valley or die at the hands of drug barons and other criminals.

Incompetence

Who weeps for them? At the same time Kenyans must come to terms with the fact that the police force they would like to see unfold under the new Kenya Police Service Commission will take some time to materialise.

The level of incompetence in the police today is legendary, which is why many Kenyans were not surprised to learn that the officers killed in Suguta Valley were victims of a poorly planned and amateurish operation.

In addition, corruption in the force is son endemic that during the interviews of applicants shortlisted by the police commission to head the service were dogged by allegations of graft.

The commission has its work cut out, but so far it has failed to take advantage of a great opportunity that presented itself to lay down a clear marker that things are going to be different.

Its silence over the bungled Suguta Valley operation is a case in point where all the choice sound bites came from other quarters other than the commission.

This was a time when the commission should have led from the front. Instead, it allowed the Ministry of State for Internal Security to get away with doing nothing. There will be other opportunities, however, and the commission would do well to grab them.