ODM protests over Grace Kaindi as new county security bosses named

The shake-up of the police service was extended to regional bosses on Wednesday when Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery reshuffled county commissioners and police commanders in all the 47 counties.

Security chiefs in Nairobi and Mombasa were among those transferred to new stations in the shake-up that also overturned a reshuffle announced by Ms Grace Kaindi on Saturday.

Ms Kaindi was replaced as the deputy inspector-general of police on Tuesday, a move that sparked protests from ODM lawmakers, who on Wednesday described her sacking as unconstitutional.

The leaders, including party chairman John Mbadi, asked Ms Kaindi to ignore the announcement by State House and continue with her job.

“The President is the Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces and not the National Police Service. He has no power to fire Ms Kaindi,” said Mr Mbadi.

He accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of flouting both the Constitution and the Police Act for dropping Ms Kaindi and appointing her ambassador.

Lawyers also protested against the move, saying the position should have been given to a woman to respect the one-third gender rule.

However, Mr Johnstone Kavuludi, who chairs the National Police Service Commission, said Ms Kaindi left office after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.

He said that the IG, Mr Boinnet, presented the proposal for Ms Kaindi’s retirement and it was approved.

“The DIG (Ms Kaindi) was not removed from service. The position fell vacant upon retirement. Whenever that happens the vacancy has to be filled,” said Mr Kavuludi. “The commission has embarked on a process to fill the position, while Mr Kitili occupies it in an acting capacity as required by law.”

Mr Kavuludi had accompanied Mr Nkaissery and Mr Boinnet atg the press conference outside Harambee House, Nairobi.

In a telephone interview later in the day, Ms Kaindi told the Nation that she was still in office until she receives orders to leave.

“I am in the office and I am overseeing police operations as usual. I am waiting for instructions to leave and at the same time, who to hand over the office to. I am ready to do that any time,” she said.

REFORMS

Wednesday’s far-reaching changes came barely 18 hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Mr Joel Kitili as acting Deputy Inspector-General of the Kenya Police until a substantive appointment is made.

When Mr Nkaissery and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Joseph Boinnet, announced the changes in the county security command, they said the move was part of reforms that would improve security by ensuring that officers in the lower levels worked in harmony with those at national level.

Said Maj Gen (Rtd) Nkaissery: “Ordinarily this would be an internal administrative process that is not announced publicly. However in the light of the need to signal a shift in the administration of the national government and its coordination function I hereby announce the deployments.

“The President issued an Executive Order to cohere the functioning of National Government from the lowest to the highest levels. This structure is also key to responding effectively to the current security threats facing us.”

He said the Interior Ministry’s focus was on defeating terrorism, eradicating cattle rustling and enhancing the war against illicit alcohol and narcotics. He announced a new list of county commissioners, retaining some old faces and bringing in new ones while Mr Boinnet unveiled the new line-up of county commanders.

“I wish to inform Kenyans that the ministry is on course with these processes and that we shall continue to improve both our structures and modalities of operations in order to improve service delivery to our people across the country,” the CS said.

In July, senior police officers revealed to the Nation that some of their colleagues were not being assigned duties and that in some counties, different police formations such as the Administration Police, GSU, DCI and regular police were being headed by officers of the same rank, making it difficult to issue orders or co-ordinate security operations effectively.

Some senior police officers have also been locked in a battle of supremacy among themselves and between them and officials at the Interior Ministry, especially over procurement of security equipment.
The new appointments are expected to address some of these supremacy battles that have adversely affected police ability to function effectively.

The new county commanders were put in charge of all police operations and units in their areas of jurisdiction, meaning that the heads of various formations will report to them.

Mr Nkaissery said that the changes take effect immediately and directed all those transferred to report to their new stations before Sunday.

Additional reporting by Lillian Mutavi