Breaking News: Ruto postpones school reopening indefinitely due to flooding
Demand for VIP security to soar under new law
FILE | NATION
An Administration Police officer inspects an AK-47 rifle recovered from a suspected robber who was gunned down in Nairobi on February 10, 2010. He had exchanged fire with the police after he was cornered.
What you need to know:
Go for private security: Ransley
- The Presidential Escort Unit will be retained to provide security to the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister.
- A Senior Government Officer Support Unit will protect officials who need security. The unit will also be in charge of security of government buildings.
- The Justice Philip Ransley report recommended that all police officers performing non-core duties be redeployed to boost police visibility.
- “Consideration should be given to the use of private security providers and National Youth Service in non-core functions,” the report said.
The new structures of government in line with the recently-promulgated Constitution could sharply increase the demand for VIP protection.
Police are grappling with the challenge of how to protect the VIPs without compromising the security of ordinary Kenyans.
Currently, nearly 2,000 police officers are deployed as sentries and bodyguards of senior government officials instead of performing their core duties of fighting crime.
This number is set to increase sharply with the establishment of an expanded Parliament and newly-created Senate and county assemblies.
Every MP is entitled to an armed guard while Cabinet ministers are entitled to two official police guards, according to the present security provisions.
Once the new Constitution is fully implemented, the number of MPs will increase from 222 to 343, another 67 elected officials will sit in the Senate and there will be 47 county governors.
In addition, ministers are assigned more officers from the Administration Police to be sentries in their urban and rural homes. Some permanent secretaries, heads of parastatals and commissions also have police bodyguards.
Senior officers in the already overstretched police force are pushing for the fast-tracking of reforms that will see “auxiliary duties” currently undertaken by the police taken over by other bodies.
Sources privy to discussions by senior officers told the Nation that there was need to strip all elected officials of their police guards.
It was agreed that one should be accorded such protection if there was a proven threat to his/her life and not “merely for being elected”.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the issue was among those being addressed in police reforms.
“If we fast-track police reforms, then all the matters raised will be dealt with because every concern is included in the implementation plan. We cannot afford not to carry out police reforms,” he said.
The police reforms implementation committee, headed by Kenya Airways chief executive officer Titus Naikuni, is spearheading the changes as outlined by the Justice Philip Ransley taskforce.
To ensure the police force is not weighed down, the taskforce recommended that auxiliary duties like being drivers, office messengers and sentries be taken over by other organisations like the National Youth Service and private security guards.
UN standards recommend a police to population ratio of 1:400 for a force to be efficient in law enforcement but in Kenya, this has shot up to 1:650, including those serving a few senior government officers.
In the AP, there is a fully-fledged unit comprising 1,500 officers specialising in VIP protection.
They fall under the AP’s Security of Government Buildings Unit (SGBU), based off Mbagathi Way in Nairobi.
Another 600 officers, drawn from the regular police and the paramilitary General Service Unit, also serve VIPs, who include diplomats, visiting dignitaries, judges and influential businessmen. These officers also guard government buildings and foreign missions round the clock, raising concerns that such deployment increases pressure on a strained force at the expense of war against crime.
An even bigger unit of officers is deployed to guard the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries.
Others who enjoy the services of chase cars with armed bodyguards are the Chief Justice, Central Bank governor and the Speaker.
At least four Cabinet ministers are also known to enjoy these services. They are Prof George Saitoti (Security), Mr John Michuki (Environment), Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (Finance) and Mr William Ruto (Higher education).
