Police should expect higher salaries, Kavuludi says

Police officers should expect higher salaries soon, National Police Service Commission Chairperson Johnston Kavuludi said on Thursday.

However, he did not indicate how much the pay rise will be or when it will be implemented.

“Police officers can expect a pay rise, they should expect a pay rise. I'm not going to put a time limit of days to it but we have been consulting very closely and we are so actively involved in ensuring that the terms and conditions of police officers, especially in regard to minimum pay, is consistent with what is being offered other public servants. So there is good news coming. Let them be patient,” he said.

JULY NOTES

Civil servants are expecting the increment to be reflected in their July payslips.

The civil servants' deal, which will also affect prison officers, increases their salary by up to a third, which will be spread over four years from July 1.

The commission had proposed that the new structure be pegged on skills, responsibility and risks.

It had further proposed 14 pay grades, each for the police ranks from constable to inspector-general that would be matched against the 19 scales in the civil service.

CJ SURPRISED

Chief Justice David Maraga was surprised to be told that only four per cent of police officers are corrupt because he expected the figure to be much higher.

“I'm surprised to hear it is only four per cent because the notion out there is police are corrupt. Deal with them firmly and fairly. Even in Judiciary we have a very small fraction of (such) officers and we are dealing with them,” he said.

Mr Kavuludi had just informed him that vetting of officers to determine their “suitability and competence,” was done and that four per cent had failed the test.

Justice Maraga said police reforms should not be a one-off affair, but a continuous process.

The two spoke at the Supreme Court after Mr Joseph Vincent Onyango was sworn in as the chief executive officer of the police service commission.