The ghetto life of a Kenyan police officer

As the country waits for the establishment of the Police Service Commission, debate has already started on the direction the Kenya Police will take once the new body starts rolling out much-awaited reforms in the force.

Many believe that a spruced-up Vigilance House would usher in an era of civility, professionalism and responsiveness within the force, and that this new epoch would complement other reform initiatives across various arms of the government in the spirit of the new Constitution.

What many do not pause to think about, however, is the current status of the Kenya Police, a force that has served this country for decades with minimal support from the government.

While the new Inspector General would work with a top command that is completely different from the current one, there are indications that, unless more effort goes into equipping, retraining and generally professionalising the force, little will be achieved in terms of reforms.

Writing in the Sunday Nation this week, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe rightly argued that “professional policing is more about reducing opportunities for crime and securing freedom for the majority”, but unless the squalid conditions in which officers live and work are looked into, it is unlikely that the envisaged security will be achieved.

For the force to “secure freedom for the majority”, timely response to criminal incidents is core. But within the Kenya Police, lack of transport and other equipment has, in most cases, prevented this much-needed response.

In November last year, Internal Security minister George Saitoti identified transport as the major hindrance to police operations as he revealed that the Ministry had a shortfall of 7,203 vehicles against the required 9,779.

A total of 100 District Commissioners, 438 Divisional District officers, 480 OCPDs and OCSs, and 220 District AP commanders have no official vehicles.

During that same month, 69 vehicles valued at Sh170 million were handed out to provincial administrators and the AP, while another 19 lorries were distributed to the police.

Though, in the last financial year, the Ministry was allocated Sh1.449 billion for the purchase of motor vehicles for use by the two police services — Sh1 billion for police, Sh400 million for the AP, and Sh49 million for the Provincial administration — Saitoti said the money was not adequate to properly equip his officers.

The challenges faced by the police in this regard are inadequate budget allocations and irregular and unpredictable funding that prevents effective planning and development.

Prof Saitoti says the existing procurement procedures are cumbersome, bureaucratic and too slow.

Because of the bottlenecks created in the funding of police work, some stations are forced to hire taxis to take their prisoners to court, while traffic officers use breakdown trucks within their station areas for transport.

Housing has also been a major problem area for the force. Across the country, officers are housed in leaky hovels and, even though there has been a spirited clamour to improve this situation since 2009, progress has been snail-paced.

In the late 2000s, for instance, the Government approved the construction of 27,000 housing units for the force.

Some 240 housing units and one office block were to be put up in Nairobi during the first phase as part of the implementation of the Kenya Police Strategic Plan for 2004-2008.

The sites to be covered included: Kayole Police Division (one administration block and 24 housing units), Kamukunji Police Station (48 units), Central Police Station (48 units), Dandora Police Station (24 units) Pangani Police Station (24 units), Kabete Police Station (24 units), Kiamumbi Police Station (24 units) and Industrial Area Police Lines (24 units).

To address the shortage of housing and serious congestion in police lines, the Government began by renovating existing quarters and stalled projects as well as leasing available accommodation for the police. This was followed by the purchase of already constructed housing projects.

Among the stations that benefitted from this project was the Mbaraki Police Lines in Mombasa, one of the largest police accommodation quarters in the country.

The Mbaraki project was intended to bring to life colonial-era structures that had existed side-by-side with modern-ish flats (christened Mugoya) that were built by the Moi administration, but the derelict state of the houses gave the contractors little room for improvement.

The largest police housing project in the country is West Park, which consists of 115 four-bedroom maisonettes, 288 three-bedroom flats and another 122 two-bedroom flats.

The project, which started in 1987, took a staggering 24 years to complete due to a land ownership dispute between the police and Wilson Mutumba Women’s group, who had laid claim to the 27-hectare land on which the estate stands.

But West Park has done little to ease the biting shortage of housing for police officers, forcing Vigilance House to take the leasing route.

Commissioner Matthew Iteere says that, since 2004, the department has leased 1,536 houses across the country. Currently, 955 housing units, four police canteens and four barracks are under construction.

On top of these accommodation woes is a growing lack of office space, especially in the newly-created police divisions.

Makadara police division, for instance, is headquartered at the Industrial Area Police Station, implying that the existing offices have to be shared by the OCPD, the DCIO, the deputy OCPD, and the OCS and his two deputies, among others.

The same applies to Dagoretti Division, headquarterd at Kabete Police Station. It is against this worrying backdrop that the force is gearing up for reforms, and Mr Iteere, probably fearing for the worse, has urged concerned parties to channel adequate funds and resources to equip the force.

Critics, however, argue that the putrescence within the force, as detailed in the Ransley Report, has little to do with funding and a lot to do with individual choices.

Retired Judge Philip Ransley, who chaired a national task force on police reforms three years ago, reported that there were serious management problems arising from, among others, poor leadership, patronage, arbitrary transfers, cronyism, undue political influence, wrong placement, disconnect between the lower ranks and their seniors, outright corruption and low staff morale.

That low morale has been exacerbated by extremely poor working conditions. Should you dial 999 seeking urgent police help, chances are that the lone, battered car at the station will have an empty fuel tank.

Some stations are allocated as little as 10 litres per day, and that can barely take them through half a day.

As a result, officers commanding stations, who face the heat should insecurity rise in their areas of jurisdiction, are forced to device ways to fuel their official cars.

An immobile police officer can barely enforce law and order, and, with the advent of cybercrime, drugs and arms trafficking, terrorism and maritime piracy, it is important that the force gets the right support from the government.

It is discouraging, therefore, that some police stations still use typewriters for their administrative duties.

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