Court halts police recruitment in Sh60 billion payroll row

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja during a press briefing in Nairobi on October 1, 2025. (Collins Oduor, Standard) The Employment and Labour Relations Court has frozen police recruitment in a fresh round of standoff on who, between the Inspector General Douglas Kanja and the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) has the powers over the Sh60 billion police payroll. Justice Hellen Wasilwa issued the orders in a case filed by former Kilome Member of Parliament John Harun Mwau. "Interim conservatory order is hereby issued staying the entire recruitment pending resolution of the petition," ruled Justice Wasilwa. In the case, Mwau claimed that NPSC has no powers to manage the police payroll or conduct recruitments. He argued that instead, the commission can only recruit its own staff, who are civilians, while the IG is mandated to carry recruit police officers. His lawyer Macmillan Ouma argued that NPSC is not a security organ, hence cannot control payroll and other functions which are set out exclusively for the IG. "The NPSC is not a national security organ. Its recruitment mandate under Article 246(3) is distinct and applies only to civilian human resource positions within the NPSC, not to sworn members of the Service whose recruitment falls under Article 238(2)(d). This separation preserves operational security, ensures recruitment is handled by those with functional and operational competence, and protects sensitive processes from unnecessary civilian intrusion," argued Ouma. Kanja who heads the National Police Service (NPS) has been at loggerheads with the commission, he sits in, over handing over payroll and other functions. In their argument NPSC, which is chaired by Dr Amani Yudo Komora, argue that payroll is a Human Resource issue that should be under them while Kanja has argued that it is an operational issue that should be handled by him. In a separate case, the Attorney General Dorcas Oduor backed Kanja, saying the commission has no powers over payroll and recruitment. NPSC is made up of civilians of former officers; Kanja sits in the commission alongside his deputies Gilbert Masengeli and Eliud Lagat as well as Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin. Oduor's decision to back Kanja was revealed in submissions by state counsel Jackline Kiramana in a recently withdrawn case that had been filed by lawyer Shadrack Wambui and lobby group Sheria Mtaani. In the case Wambui had sued IG Kanja, NPS, AG with NPSC and the Law Society of Kenya as interested parties. In her response to the petition, Kiramana said that Wambui and Sheria Mtaani were misrepresenting the law. "No provision in the Constitution expressly assigns payroll management or financial administration to the Commission. The Commission's role is to set policy on human resources, not to handle the day-to-day financial ledger of the police." Kiramana added that payroll administration underpins promotions, transfers, and discipline, all areas constitutionally protected as the domain of IG under Article 245(2)(b). "Displacing the IG's control of payroll would upset the balance of authority and compromise the chain of command within the Service," she argued. Wambui in his petition had stated that, payroll management should be part of NPSC's human resource mandate and it had the right to determine how much police earnings in remuneration and benefits. The recruitment was to kick off on Friday (today). However, Justice Wasilwa ordered that the IG, the NPSC, Attorney General and the National Security Council should respond to the case and appear for a hearing on October 21, 2025.

Court halts police recruitment in Sh60 billion payroll row

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