National security deal struck at review talks

• Intelligence, army, AP and police take centre stage as negotiations enter home stretch

Members of Parliament negotiating a new constitution Tuesday agreed to keep national security as a function of the central government, unofficial sources said.

They also decided to keep the regular and Administration Police as separate forces, but reporting to one boss, the Inspector General.

Under that arrangement, each of the two arms will be headed by a commandant.

The 26-member Parliamentary Select Committee on the constitution is debating and seeking consensus on the draft constitution ahead of a referendum to be held later in the year.

The team is expected to reach an agreement to prevent a fall-out similar to the one experienced ahead of the 2005 referendum when political leaders were divided over whether to support or reject the Wako Draft.

The divisions led to the polarisation of the citizens along party and ethnic lines.

On Tuesday, the committee tackled, among others, the chapter on national security and was expected to conclude debate on the Executive, devolution, representation and public finance by the end of day.

In accordance with parliamentary rules, MPs are not allowed to reveal what was discussed and no media briefings were provided.

Currently, the police force is headed by the Commissioner of Police while the AP is headed by a Commandant reporting directly to the Provincial Administration and Internal Security permanent secretary.

“We unanimously agreed to recognise the AP as a separate force at par with the Kenya police service,” an MP at the meeting said.

Under the proposed constitution, the commandants of the two forces will fall under the Inspector-General but will function independently administratively.

A proposal to form a civilian Internal Security Board to coordinate the two forces was mooted but not conclusively discussed.

In the draft constitution prepared by the Committee of Experts, headed by former LSK chairman Nzamba Kitonga, national security organs are recognised as the Kenya Defence Forces, the National Security Intelligence Service and the Kenya Police Services.

The experts did not put the Administration Police in the draft, only indicating: “Parliament may establish such other police services as it may consider necessary.”

The move was interpreted to mean that the AP would be disbanded once the new constitution was enacted.

Kenya Forestry Service and Kenya Wildlife Service have also been left out in the draft. Both have armed wings to crack down on poachers and protect both wildlife and forests.

The PSC members were also proposing that the armed forces and the police be entrenched under different chapters in the new constitution.

The team, chaired by Mandera Central MP Mohamed Abdikadir, was reported to have discussed models through which co-existence between the regular and administration police units can be enhanced.