The National Police Service Commission will be abolished, the Inspector General given more powers and the civilian oversight tightened in BBI reforms.
The Building Bridges Initiative recommends that the NPSC be replaced by Kenya Police Council to end wrangles between the IG and the commission.
The council will be responsible for policy coordination of the National Police Service and perform any other function prescribed by national legislation.
According to the report, the abolishment of NPSC will provide clarity on the centrality of command control by the Inspector General of Police.
“The National Police Service Commission is removed as a commission and replaced by the Kenya Police Council to oversee policy and command functions of the National Police Service in collaboration with the Inspector General of Police,” the BBI report says.
The IG and NPSC have often clashed over the management of the National Police Service.
Early this month, IG Hillary Mutyambai and NPSC chairman Eliud Kinuthia differed in public over the planned hiring of 5,000 police officers.
Mutyambai declared null and void Kinuthia's announcement that the commission had approved the recruitment.
The council shall be chaired by Interior Cabinet Secretary and consist of IG and two senior members of the National Police Service units appointed by the President and Interior Principal Secretary as members.
The BBI proposes that the IG will exercise independent command over the service, determine police transfers, recommend officers for promotion and discipline errant officers.
“The Bill proposes to amend Chapter 14 of the Constitution on national security to merge the constituent units of the National Police Service and to provide clarity on the unity of command in the service,” it says.
To effectively check the excesses of the police, BBI seeks to amend the Constitution to elevate the civilian Independent Policing Oversight Authority to an independent commission that will hold police officers accountable to the public in the performance of their functions.
“The commission is expected to provide an effective mechanism of oversight on the conduct of the members of the police service in discharging their work and their relation to the citizens,” the report states.
Further, BBI collapses the Kenya Police and Administration Police Service into the National Police Service under the command of the IG.
The BBI report was unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM boss Raila Odinga at Kisii State Lodge on Wednesday.
- mwaniki fm
