CS Kindiki taps three expert security advisers

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has hired three advisers for his docket.

Veteran security expert Dr Simiyu Werunga will be adviser for homeland security, George Mcee adviser for immigration and citizens services and Kakai Kissinger secretary for resource mobilisation.

They will join journalist Francis Gachuri, secretary for strategic communications.

Werunga is a former military officer who has worked in the security sector  for more than 35 years. Before taking up the job, he was the president of the advisory council of the Switzerland-based Geneva Centre for Africa Security and Strategic Studies.

He previously was team lead on rule of law at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar) in Geneva.

He also served as a member of the police vetting board and with the National Task Force on Community Policing amongst many other local and international assignments.

Werunga has been championing reforms in the security sector and is currently a member of the task force that will oversee reforms at the National Police Service and Kenya Prisons Service.

The task force is mandated to identify the constraints on effective service delivery by the police and prisons services.

Mcee is a career immigration consultant and practitioner with more than 18 years from government where he worked as an immigration officer for nine years. He also worked at the UN where he was on secondment for one year and in the corporate world where he worked as the practice leader for the immigration consulting company Fragomen Kenya.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Moi University, Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi, Master of Arts in Communication from Daystar University and a diploma in law from Kenya School of Law. He is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Kissinger is also an advocate of the High Court with a master’s degree from Harvard Law School and a post-graduate diploma in International Trade Law from University of Turin, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi.

He has 15 years experience at senior management and six years in middle management, cutting across various sectors, including governance, human rights, rule of law, electoral management and teaching.

“He has coordinated and managed development partner programmes at the most senior levels in particular with  World Bank funded projects on judicial performance and improvement programmes in Kenya, and governance projects with German technical cooperation,” his CV reads.

Since he came to office, Kindiki says the ministry has opened the Police Leadership Academy in Ngong and accelerated the construction of the National Police Hospital (Mbagathi), the Kenya Prisons Hospital (Ruiru) and equipped and opened the Border Police Hospital in Kitui.

Kindiki said there has been streamlining e-passport issuance and restoration of the supply of passport booklets.

The CS has initiated a policy framework for the introduction of a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) at birth for all newborns and the policy framework for the introduction of third-generation, smart/digital IDs.

He also cleared a five-year backlog (2018-22) of determinations of 1,678 applications and 19 appeals of citizenship, permanent residency and work permits.

“Going forward, we intend to make regular public accountability statements on progress made every three months, consistent with the Kenya Kwanza administration policy of an open government,” he said.

(Edited by V. Graham)