Experts differ on Nkaissery's police vetting stand

The opposition by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery on the way police vetting is conducted has once again stirred debate on the key pillar of police reforms.

On Saturday, Major Gen (rtd) Nkaissery maintained that the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) does not understand police work and should therefore not vet officers.

He, however, told the Sunday Nation he was not opposed to the police vetting but only wanted to ensure it is not “used to victimise officers, but should be done with an intention to professionalise the service”.

“The CS’s position has been that most of the people involved in the vetting do not understand or appreciate police work. His view is that the composition of those who vet the police should be by people who understand the difficult circumstances the police operate,” his office responded to questions by Sunday Nation.

He added that “NPSC as it is today has not fully appreciated” the work conditions of the police, even as he was quick to deny that he was seeking the disbandment of the commission.

“You cannot reconstitute it until its mandate is over. NPSC is a constitutional body and can only be removed through constitutional means. The CS is only expressing frustration about the perception being created about our officers in the course of the vetting,” Mr Nkaissery said adding that his position is not in any way to criticise anybody or abet corruption.

The CS’s stand has, however, left some security sector players questioning his and the Executive’s sudden change of heart on police vetting.

According to the chairman of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) Macharia Njeru, the starting point should be to appreciate that police vetting is a requirement of law.

“It is not like NPSC has an option and it does not matter whether the CS is happy or not,” he said.

His sentiments are shared by a former police vetting panelist Simiyu Werunga who said Mr Nkaissery was grossly mistaken to question the suitability and qualifications of the Johnston Kavuludi-led commission.

“NPSC was established under certain criteria and qualifications. Nobody was employed in the NPSC without meeting the qualifications. They went through public scrutiny and vetting and NPSC has not had new commissioners since,” said Mr Werunga.

OBJECTIVES

If anyone is to be blamed, Mr Werunga said, the Executive and political forces are the ones who have been interfering with the exercise.

“Once people realised how thorough the exercise was there was immense society, executive and political influence. That is the reason Kenyans feel that police vetting has not delivered the intended results in professionalising the police service.

That is, however, not to say the commissioners are not qualified. And for the CS to insinuate that they don’t understand the workings of the police is something I don’t agree with,” added Mr Werunga.

According to him, exercise was to achieve two key outcomes: suitability and competence of the officers to continue serving in the NPS.

However, Retired Major Bashir Abdullaih of Vickers Security said the CS’s concerns on the police vetting should be understood in the context of national security.

“I think the CS’s concern is the public scrutiny of the officers. So, it is being done but not why. Vetting is part of their (NPSC) mandate,” Major Abdullaih said.

But Mr Njeru states that should not be a concern.

“It is not a question of embarrassing anyone but addressing the question of integrity. There is really nothing special about the police that they should be vetted differently from other public office holders.

And it should also be made clear that whether done in public or in private, it is not about the public against them but just to make them accountable on matters of integrity like every other public office holder,” the Ipoa chairman said.