• Top on the list of dirt is cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling during police recruitment exercises.
• The underdealings don't end there. Once inside, officers have to bribe their way up the ranks or to secure transfers, deployments or promotions.
Image: PCS
Corruption has permeated all three police services to endemic levels despite institutional policies and strategies specifically targeted at addressing the vice.
The revelation is contained in the report by the National Taskforce on Police Reforms submitted to President William Ruto on Thursday at State House, Nairobi, by team leader former Chief Justice David Maraga.
Maraga said the insights were collated from public submissions across all 47 counties touching on operations of the National Police Service (NPS), the Kenya Prisons Service and the National Police Service (NYS).
Corruption in NPS
The Maraga team found that corruption remains endemic and deeply embedded in the institutional culture and psyche of the entire police service.
Top on the list of the dirt is cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling during police recruitment exercises where slots were being sold for up to Sh600,000 if not more.
Most police jobs are sold to those who can afford them or only offered to relatives of the powerful and politically connected.
"Those who enter the NPS through political influence sustain their place in the Service by remaining loyal to those ‘they know’ while those who are picked on merit ‘grease’ their positions by granting favours to police bosses," the report says.
The dealings don't end there. Once inside, officers have to bribe their way up the ranks or to secure transfers, deployments or promotions.
Traffic police were also found culpable for conflict of interest that further fuels corruption in NPS.
These include traffic police officers owning public service vehicles and motor vehicle breakdown services, alcohol outlets, gambling outlets and generally engaging in business activities that compromise their impartiality and professionalism.
"The Traffic Department of NPS came up for special mention in literally all meetings that the Taskforce held in the 47 counties and submissions by most stakeholders. Unanimously, police roadblocks were described as corruption toll stations from where the ‘loot’ collected was shared up to the highest levels in the hierarchy of police leadership," the report said.
As such, the Taskforce recommended amendment of Section 65 of the NPS Act within six months and the abolition of police roadblocks and their replacement with mobile patrol units.
The team further recommended the use of technology in the detection of traffic infractions and the attendant fines becoming cashless by use of technology to nib bribery in the bud.
It also recommended the restructuring of the current Traffic Police Unit into a new Traffic Management Unit that is well-trained and leaner.
Corruption in the Kenya Prisons Service
In the prison service, the team found that corruption is mainly in recruitment, promotions, deployment, transfer procurement and issuance of stores.
"Such are the levels of nepotism and corruption in recruitment into the KPS that several officers have had their family members employed in the Service. Some of these family members are serving together in the same station," the Maraga team notes in the executive summary of the report.
"The Taskforce was informed that some prison operations are run like family affairs (thus) creating huge command challenges."
The team also found widespread collusion between rogue prison officers and prisoners in the running of phone scams, fraud, petty trade and drug trafficking from precincts of prisons.
It noted that so entrenched is the vice that prison heads resist all forms of progressive reforms to preserve the status quo, thereby compromising the core mandate of the service of correcting and rehabilitating inmates.
"Every Commissioner-General appointed since has always encountered internal entrenched interests which they benefit from and are keen to preserve the status quo."
Corruption in NYS
The Maraga team indicted the National Youth Service for systemic corruption over the years that has remained immune to administrative and structural realignment.
The team noted that despite NYS being transformed from a government department to a Semi-Autonomous Government Agency (SAGA) following the massive looting of funds in 2015 and 2018, and the establishment of the NYS Council, the changes have not achieved the intended objective.
"The Taskforce heard from various cadres of staff that the poor state of NYS farms and equipment is not just a result of limited budgetary support but also the product of systemic corruption over the years," the probe team said.