Police to recruit afresh as Uhuru bows to pressure

What you need to know:

  • Lawyer Kamu Kuria said the president must respect the law. ‘‘Respect for court orders, however disagreable one may find them, is a cardinal tenet of the rule of law,’’ he said.
  • While calling for fresh recruitment yesterday, the National Police Service said; “The urgency was underscored last week following a terrorist attack on Garissa University College.
  • A recruitment in July last year was declared null and void by the High Court after Independent Policing Oversight Authority successfully challenged it. Judge Isaac Lenaola found the recruitment to have been riddled with corruption.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has bowed down to pressure over his order that police recruits whose training had been stopped by a court report to college.

Consequently, the National Police Service Commission Friday announced fresh recruitment for officers across the country. The Commission’s chairman Johnston Kavuludi said 10,000 will be recruited on April 20.

The president had been under pressure from lawyers and constitutional bodies since the order he issued in the wake of the Garissa terror attack.
Inspector-General Joseph Boinett had asked the recruits to report to Kiganjo college Sunday.

The Independent Police Oversight Authority, the Constitutional Implementation Commission, Law Society of Kenya and security experts had described the order as illegal.

AVARICIOUS APPETITE

‘‘When corrupt means are used to join the force, police officers march out of Kiganjo Training College with an avaricious appetite for bribes,’’ security expert Prof Trevor Ng’ulia wrote in the Saturday Nation.

Lawyer Kamu Kuria said the president must respect the law. ‘‘Respect for court orders, however disagreable one may find them, is a cardinal tenet of the rule of law,’’ he said.

Police oversight authority chairman Macharia Njeru had threatened to take legal action on Mr Boinett “for contempt of court” following a meeting of board members.

The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution’s Charles Nyachae also opposed the order.

President Kenyatta had promised to take “full responsibility,” in directing that the rejected officers should start training, which was a disregard for the Courts.

A recruitment in July last year was declared null and void by the High Court after Independent Policing Oversight Authority successfully challenged it. Judge Isaac Lenaola found the recruitment to have been riddled with corruption.

The government appealed the decision and the Court of Appeal was to rule on May 8.

While calling for fresh recruitment yesterday, the National Police Service said; “The urgency was underscored last week following a terrorist attack on Garissa University College.

“In light of these developments and to operate within confines of the rule of law the, National Police Service announces a new recruitment for 10,000 police officers’’. 

The President had linked the recent attacks to Garissa shortage of officers.

Yesterday, Attorney-General Githu Muigai, who had supported the President, said that he had arranged a meeting with Independent Police Oversight Authority, and all concerned parties, so that the court case is withdrawn to pave the way for the implementation of the Presidential directive without fear of legal reprisals.