NPSC warn against cons in recruitment of police officers

An Administration officer checks on the fitness of one of the recruits at 64 Stadium in Eldoret for Soy recruit centre in April 2015. PHOTO: STANDARD/FILE

NAIROBI: The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has warned against conmen on the lose claiming planned recruitment of police will be done on April 20.

Chairman Johnston Kavuludi said they are yet to decide when the exercise will be conducted and urged the public to ignore a fake advertisement circulating in the social media.

“The message which is a replication of the 2015 newspaper advertisement on recruitment of police constables is false, misleading and mischievous,” said Kavuludi.

He added they will soon make a formal announcement of the recruitment date, requirements and centres of recruitment.

“Members of the public are advised to ignore messages from unauthorized sources.”

Kavuludi was reacting to an advertisement circulating on the social media claiming the recruitment is set for April 20, 2016.

It has also emerged that the exercise, which is aimed at getting 10,000 officers could be derailed following sharp divisions in the commission over the modalities to be used in the exercise.

At the centre of the confusion and controversy is whether the commission should use the new regulations gazetted last year in accordance with the High court and Appeal court ruling or revert to the old recruitment system, which could expose it to litigations.

 “Unless the commission implements the new regulations as ordered by the court, someone could easily rush to the courts to challenge the exercise if they decide to use the old system that is being agitated for by senior police officers in the commission,” a legal expert at NPSC warned.

On March 1, President Uhuru Kenyatta, while officiating at the GSU passing out parade, called for the immediate recruitment of 10,000 police officers to boost security in the country in addition to bridging the wide gap against the population ratio.

The exercise had been slated for end of this month but indications are that it may not take place immediately as the President directed owing to differences emerging between members of NPSC.

Commissioner Murshid Mohammed chaired a meeting on Monday, which was attended by among others commandants of Kiganjo training college William Saiya, Administration Police Training college Macharia Muriithi and GSU training school’s Titus Mubea to review the recruitment formula which should be adopted to hire fresh officers but no solution was arrived at.

Sources say some officers want the recruitment exercise to proceed using old the procedures and the not the new regulations as ordered by the courts.

In October 2014, High Court Judge Isaac Lenaona nullified that recruitment over numerous irregularities and directed that the process be conducted afresh, after determining that Sub-county committees in 36 recruitment centres contravened both the Constitution and the NPSC Act.

The Commission however appealed the ruling at the Court of Appeal but, a three judge bench of John Mwera, Wanjiru Karanja and William Ouko upheld the Lenaola ruling.

According to the appellate judges, the irregularities first occurred when the Inspector- General of Police delegated the recruiting powers to sub-county committees without authority from NPSC and in contravention of the constitution.

The judges equally faulted the Commission for having not put in place regulations to be followed for the exercise.

Further, it stated that the recruitment officers were not bonafide members of the Commission and were 'strangers' to the 2014 exercise.

“The Inspector General of Police has no power to appoint or delegate powers to subcounty committees to conduct the recruitment,” they ruled.

The regulations were however developed and published last year, that set in place a requirement that NPSC appoints and mandates some agents to avert any form of irregularities.

Under the new regulations, NPSC want to make it an extended recruitment process that would go for almost a week instead of the normal one-day exercise.

The new regulations stipulate that recruits have to go through four main stages in the recruitment process, and the list of successful candidates will be sent to the NPSC for final analysis to ensure compliance with all requirements before publishing the names in selected local dailies.

Furthermore the physical tests would be done in Nairobi and a merit list published. A committee sitting in Nairobi will then take two to three weeks to choose those who will have qualified.

They add that where recruitment is delegated to the Inspector General, no recruitment may be commenced prior to the approval of the Commission.

They further state that the Inspector General shall be held accountable for the recruitment and be guided by policies and regulations developed by the Commission.

The regulations also state that any recruitment of any of the higher ranks shall be carried out directly by the Commission and that NPSC and the National Police Service shall maintain job descriptions and standard job specifications for all civilian and uniformed police positions as approved by the Commission and will be the basis for all recruitment.