Protest by civil societies on police nominee not genuine

By Seth Mwangani

After the National Police Service Commission released the names of the proposed nominees for the post of Inspector General and the deputy, the civil societies immediately came up fighting back.

It has to be noted that all the time during the vetting process of these nominees none of the civil societies came up with their own complains against any of these nominees.

Why would they wait until the process is over for them to start protesting the outcome of the vetting?

Two schools of thoughts have come up clearly. Either these civil society had one of their own in mind whom they were wishing will be among the appointees or they have accepted  to be used by the anti-reformist individuals who are against the police reforms in general.

Currently, the nation is experiencing a state of insecurity that has seen several police officers, who are the symbol of the state's authority being murdered in cold blood.

In the recent murder of the over forty uniformed officers, none of these civil societies has come to petition the government on the welfare of the law enforcers. Our police force do not have an insurance cover in-spite of their risky job. Whenever they loose their lives in the cause of duty, their families do not have any compensation, are usually relegated into abject poverty and left under the mercy of well-wishers. Yet they have dedicated their valuable lives providing security.

If the civil societies were genuine one would have expected them to come up and the petition the government over the welfare of the police force especially the junior police force. But in spite of the suffering of our police forces our civil societies have kept a blind eye.

One wonders why when it touches on the senior police appointments immediately Kenyans hear a lot of noises from the civil bodies. One would be tempted to think these civil societies are working to please some powerful forces.

 The President in consultation with the Prime Minister should move first and forward the nominees to parliament for approval.

Kenyans do not have time for luxury as the civil societies would want us to believe. The life of the current parliament is soon coming to an end and we must have Inspector General in place.

According to the Constitution the post of the police commissioner non-existent and indeed the current police commissioner should have vacated the Vigilance House for Inspector General.

In fact one of the reasons that can be contributing to the sense of lawlessness in the country today may be alluded to the current police commissioner. He is regarded in some quarters as a titular commissioner since he is bound to leave any time and some of his juniors may not accord him the respect that he deserves especially now that some of them have already shown interest in the job.

 Matters of insecurity in this nation requires the co-operation of  all  Kenyans including the civil societies especially now that the country is heading towards the general election and Kenyans do not want to see a repeat of the 2007 post-election violence.

This is the reason why the police inspector general should be sworn in the office immediately to have some time to familiarise with the security apparatus.

Civil societies shouldn’t play activism with the security issues while people are loosing lives everywhere even in the place of worship which is regarded as the safest refuge.