A lobby has said it is wrong to prevent two people in love from having intimacy on grounds that they work in the same place.
Angaza Network Empowerment on Wednesday faulted Interior CS Fred Matiang’i’s plan to ban relationships among police officers to curb cases of domestic violence and killings within the service.
“You cannot police love,” the network’s executive director Derrick Ngumu said on the phone.
Matiang’i on April 30 announced that the government is crafting stringent rules that will guide relationships to curb cases of sexual harassment in the National Police Service.
A team has already been formed to come up with the rules.
“We will adopt a system similar to that of the Kenya Defence Forces which bars the soldiers from getting into intimate relationships with their colleagues," Matiang’i said.
"Moving forward, it will be illegal for a police officer to date or get married to a fellow law enforcement officer. If it happens that two police officers fall in love, then one has to leave the Service," he said.
However, Ngumu said, instead, the government should improve the police officers’ welfare to reduce their frustrations, which he said lead to their mental health issues hence the cases of suicide and domestic violence.
“That move will do little to stop cases of police officers killing their spouses. In any case, they will only transfer the same killings to civilians,” said Ngumu.
He said most police officers in the country have mental health issues because of the frustrations they are subjected to in the service.
“They are underpaid, overworked and forced to live in deplorable conditions. This builds up in their psyche and might eventually explode,” said Ngumu.
The government should be offering psychosocial support to the police officers regularly, he added.
This comes barely four days after a police woman, in a viral video, said she has tried several times to quit the service following sexual harassment and frustrations in her job.
The policewoman, in the video, says she has written resignation letters several times but they were yet to reach the Inspector General.
"Sir, kindly allow me to resign peacefully from the police officer post because I can thrive elsewhere. Even if it means, resigning without pay, I will not mind," she said.
She noted that such frustrations in the police force were leading to the deaths of officers who either committed suicide or resorted to killing others.
"I just want a chance to resign peacefully. I have attached several letters meant for the IG but they never get to him. That is why police officers get frustrated to a point of committing suicide or killing themselves, something I cannot do," she said.
"I will leave here and work like any other citizen. The internal office is not helping at all. The president should disband this internal affairs office which is not carrying out its mandate," she said in the video.
Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai said they are investigating the issue and will act accordingly.
Ngumu said the video is proof that the welfare of police officers is not adequately being addressed.
“For a police officer to be bold enough to do such a video, it means she has reached the elastic limit,” said the executive director.
He said the journey to addressing such issues in the police service should start with an improved salary.
-Edited by SKanyara
