- The task force heard, from literally all 47 counties, of rampant corruption, cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling.
- The Maraga task force says that addressing the problems it flagged should start with reassessing the competence of the top police bosses.
Image: PCS
Top police officers sell key jobs, including recruitment slots, for as high as Sh600,000, the Maraga task force report reveals.
The report says corruption runs deep in the police system and whenever recruitment is announced, the top leadership divides available places among themselves and offer them to the highest bidders, making the exercise on the fields a mere charade.
The 20-member committee considered improvement of the terms and conditions of service and other reforms for the members of the National Police Service, the Prisons and the National Youth Service.
It was formed by President William Ruto in December 2022.
The report obtained by the Star says that despite the huge investment in the police reforms over the past 15 years, not much can be shown for it as the police culture of impunity, taking sides during elections, use of brute force and a patronising attitude of the seniors towards the juniors remain deeply entrenched.
Efforts to reform the police service have included a change in the Constitution, enactment of a raft of laws and regulations and the establishment of a civilian oversight mechanism.
“None of these has yielded the desired result [and] instead, every year, the National Police Service is routinely ranked as the most corrupt institution in the country without any sanctions, thus breeding a culture of impunity, which has spread to the other uniformed services,” the report reads.
The failure of community policing to take off is emblematic of this impunity.
The report says while the Constitution expects that police recruitment be transparent, competitive and merit-based to yield the most qualified, professional and ethnically balanced personnel, the current practice is riddled with nepotism, tribalism, favouritism and outright buying of the slots.
“The task force heard, from literally all 47 counties, of rampant corruption, cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling during police recruitment exercises.”
And those hired through this system remain subservient to the people who held their hands into the service, while those who landed the opportunities purely on merit are harassed to keep their jobs by having to constantly show favours and bribe their bosses.
“Further reports indicated that slots were being sold for up to Sh600,000 if not more. 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 document says.
The report says endemic corruption also permeates other aspects of the service’s operations as “transfers, deployments, promotions, as well as procurement are riddled with corruption and favouritism” and this undermines morale among the police officers.
"... the recruitment process in the Police Service is largely based on corruption, cronyism, nepotism, and political influence rather than merit. A great percentage of slots in any recruitment process are allocated to the political elite, leaving only a few for merit selection."
Conflict of interest goes deep in the service, including "traffic police officers owning public service vehicles and motor vehicle breakdown services, alcohol outlets, gambling outlets, and generally engaging in business and activities that compromise their impartiality and professionalism.”
“The Traffic Department of NPS came up for special mention in literally all meetings that the task force held in the 47 counties and in 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 reads.
As a remedy, the team proposed that traffic police be transformed into a new outfit with leaner staff, retrained and use technology, rather than traffic cops and roadblocks to enforce the traffic law.
“Task force recommends the restructuring of the current Traffic Police Unit into a new Traffic Management Unit that is well trained, leaner in numbers, and mainly reliant on technology to control and manage traffic flow in the country.”
The technology would be deployed in detection of traffic infractions and the attendant fines becoming cashless.
While that is done, the panel recommended amendment of Section 65 of the NPS Act within six months to abolish police roadblocks and their replacement with mobile patrol units.
The Maraga task force says that addressing the problems it flagged should start with reassessing the competence of the top police bosses, effectively suggesting vetting to weed out the impugned ones.
It says the law should be changed to have police bosses, including the Inspector General, competitively recruited rather than being appointed by the President.
“The letter and spirit of [the] Constitution [..] is to have all positions, especially in the leadership cadres of the NPS, competitively filled as is the case with all recruitment into other government institutions. Regrettably, however, that is not what is obtaining in the NPS."
The Security Laws Act of 2014 repealed the provisions of the NPS Act that provided for an open, transparent and competitive recruitment of the Inspector General and Deputy Inspectors General, the report reads.
As a solution, and to ascertain whether the current top leadership of the NPS has the competence, integrity and experience required to drive reforms and achieve the vision of the service, it recommends fresh vetting by an independent panel appointed by the President for all officers of the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police and above.