A cardinal rule for civil service is that once you leave an
office, you must give it the gift of your silence, at the very least in public
discourse.
Without any renegade intentions, we observe that whoever
looked forward to an independent National Police Service Commission (NPSC) must
feel great sorrow in the path taken by the last two commissions.
Enduring this unfortunate situation silently borders on
criminal irresponsibility, hence this open letter to the third Commission.
Though politicians and their close associates have
perturbingly displayed contrary desires, our constitution did not create an
apartheid or class society where certain entities enjoy powers independent of
those who wholly or in part formed it.
NPSC, therefore, is a body for the police, and that is why it was paired with a powerful external auditor, the Independent Police Oversight Authority.
Some historical perspective would be great here.
In colonial Kenya, police were servants of the crown and
received careful attention from authorities.
Evidence of this is the stations built before 1950, such as Makupa, Kabete, and Nyeri, which were among the best dwelling and office accommodations of those days.
Equally competitive was their remuneration, and the uniforms
were a spectacle for the society they served.
Health, travelling on duty, and allowances received prompt
government attention.
After independence, the Force Standing Orders (FSO) remained
the key management tool for the police.
FSO bound both the government
and the officers to meticulously defined standard operating procedures,
including recruitment, tooling, kit, uniforms, all levels of training, establishment,
strength, and transfers.
Unfortunately, whereas police adhered to the FSO, the
government repeatedly failed to maintain its obligations in areas like office
and residential accommodation, transport, allowances, and salary reviews, and
opted for ad hoc commissions.
These commissions became mouthpieces of the appointing
authority, grossly misinterpreted challenges faced, and never lived long enough
to implement and learn from their ill-conceived recommendations.
Secondly, lack of uniformly applied and enforced standard
operating procedures created a vacuum that encouraged internal injustice in the
service.
This is the genesis of NPSC—principally established to
relieve the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the embarrassing
confrontations to compel the government to meet its obligations, like late
Edwin Nyaseda, Commissioner of Police, did in 2004 in respect of a pay rise.
Police Officers’ Expectations
Although NPSC’s insistence on demarcation between Human
Resource and Operations management leaves a lot to be desired, let’s highlight
a few expectations of police officers when they campaigned for and enthusiastically
welcomed the Commission.
Police officers were sick and tired of remuneration that
chronically fell behind inflation, coupled with emolument practices that
effectively created children of lesser gods.
To date, NPSC has not convinced police officers that a
colleague deployed in other areas of government merits astronomically higher
perks than others who routinely face life-threatening situations.
Officers expected NPSC to propose and enforce an equitable
deployment and transfer policy.
On promotions, the enduring agony of police officers is the
paradigm shift from who is to be promoted to what is to be promoted.
The latter would
shift focus to excellence in core police business, including prevention,
detection, apprehension of offenders, and investigation of crime.
Stories are told of previous commissioners appearing with
lists of cousins, girlfriends, and bribe collectors as candidates for
promotion, ignoring the fact that promoting such characters means that command
and leadership will be there in theory, not in practice.
Officers expected NPSC to start with understanding the job
purpose for every position and rank, the qualifications and competencies
required, and a transparent criterion for movement from one rank to the next.
Core police duties like relations with the public,
detection, investigations, prosecutions, convictions, pursuit, and restitution
of fraudulently acquired property to lawful owners were expected to reclaim centre
stage in the work ethic.
Police expected NPSC to protect the service organisational
(command) structure against extremes of political interference.
Progressively,
political egos ignored the fact that the presence of multiple ill-equipped,
ill-resourced police stations is dangerously retrogressive for the rule of law.
The factory floor of the police basically comprises sections
of 5–9 constables commanded by a Corporal who accounts for their performance,
conduct, morale, and discipline.
The structure
includes Sergeants, Senior Sergeants, Inspectors, and Chief Inspectors (OCS),
completing the technical and supervisory cadre with relative adaptation for
formed-up units.
Stress, depression, substance abuse, and misuse of firearms
are managed here. This is the cadre that manage firearms movement registers and decides
who is fit or unfit to handle firearms.
NPSC would do well to train them to enhance their capacity
in counselling instead of creating friction by employing others to take over
their job.
NPSC was also expected to jealously protect the doctrinal
foundations of the service.
Kenya adopted the doctrinal approach of a disciplined police service offering service to all without fear, favour, or ill-will. It is regimented, ranked, and uniformed.
Accoutrements and regalia mean a lot to the public and the
officers.
An anarchic cocktail
of uniforms, worn-out uniforms, unpredictable service delivery, and chaotic
response to local policing needs means that police lose the authority required
as officers of the law.
In the eyes of the citizens, they become a militia minus the
savage cruelty to instil fear and subservience. Police presence among citizens
becomes useless and vexatious.
A clear manifestation of this unfortunate situation is the
fast-developing culture of attacks on police officers, vehicles, and stations
in communities which have historically maintained civility with government
agencies.
In a nutshell, the police initiated the formation of NPSC in
the constitution and mobilised other Kenyans to support them.
Police, therefore, reserve the right to demand a constitutional
change to create a body that is prepared to enhance their capacity to serve
Kenyans.
Before we get there, the current commission has the onus,
opportunity, and the capacity to prove that the commission can still do what it
was formed to do, instead of keeping Kenyans busy with non-issues like who
keeps the payroll.
Eric Kiraithe is a former police spokesman of National Police Service
