Bill gives Uhuru powers to hire, fire police chiefs

President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta are received by top government officials after their arrival at JKIA from the the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The President will have powers to directly appoint and remove police chiefs from office at will if MPs pass a Bill set to be tabled in the House this week. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • In addition, the Bill seeks to remove the security of tenure for the police oversight authority chairman and board members.
  • The new provision says the President can remove, retire or redeploy a deputy inspector-general before the age of retirement.
  • These powers are now with the National Police Service Commission, which can sack police chiefs with Parliament’s approval.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will have the powers to directly appoint and remove police chiefs from office at will if MPs pass a Bill set to be tabled in the House this week.

The Bill also proposes that it is not mandatory for one of the top three police officers to be a woman.

In addition, the Bill seeks to remove the security of tenure for the police oversight authority chairman and board members.

The new provision says the President can remove, retire or redeploy a deputy inspector-general before the age of retirement.

The President gets similar powers over a director of criminal investigations.

These powers are now with the National Police Service Commission, which can sack police chiefs with Parliament’s approval.

The latest changes come on the heels of the dramatic exit of Ms Grace Kaindi as deputy inspector-general. President Kenyatta appointed Mr Joel Kitili to replace her in an acting capacity. Last week, Ms Kaindi went to court to challenge him and the court stopped the recruitment of a substantive replacement.

On Tuesday, Law Society of Kenya chief executive Apollo Mboya said the Bill “is an attempt to remove some people from police oversight authority. It is sanitisation as we move to 2017”.

He said the amendment should be opposed.

“We don’t understand why the attorney-general can’t advise the government,” he said.