You’ve flouted gender rule in top police office, lawyers tell President Kenyatta

Senior lawyers and the gender commission have faulted the replacement of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Grace Kaindi with a man.

One of the occupants of the top three police positions must be a woman, they said.

The lawyers argued that to comply with the law, President Uhuru Kenyatta should have replaced Ms Kaindi with a woman. The National Police Service is headed by Inspector-General Joseph Boinnet while his deputy, Mr Samwel Arachi, leads the Administration Police.

On Tuesday, Mr Joseph Kitili was named to act as the Deputy-Inspector-General in charge of the Kenya Police, replacing Ms Kaindi, who was appointed an ambassador.

SADDENED BY THE MOVE

Mr Kitili has been the General Services Unit commandant.

Senior Counsel Paul Muite and Nzamba Kitonga and Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua yesterday said the replacement was unconstitutional, while gender commission chairperson Winfred Lichuma said “we are saddened by this move”.

The appointment can be thrown out by a court, according to Mr Mutua.

“The law is clear on the gender rule in the Police Service leadership,” he said, citing the National Police Service Act of 2011.

It is not the first time the legality of President Kenyatta’s appointments is being questioned.

In January 2014, the President rescinded the appointment of former presidential candidate Abduba Dida as chairman of the Constituency Development Fund Board after lawyers said it was unconstitutional.

The naming of Mr John Mututho as the National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug and Alcohol Abuse was also opposed and was revoked until Parliament approved it.

In April, Mr Kenyatta’s order for some 10,000 police recruits to join the Kiganjo Training College after a court had stopped their recruitment was abandoned.

According to Mr Mutua, the President’s legal advisers are “sleeping on the job”.

However, Mr Kitonga, who chaired the committee of experts that wrote the Constitution, said Mr Kitili’s appointment to act was a violation of the two-thirds gender rule but not entirely unconstitutional, given “other provisions of the law”.

“If it is only on an acting capacity, and read with other sections of the law, I hold the view that the appointment of Mr Kitili is not unconstitutional.

“However, the substantive replacement of Mrs Kaindi must follow the gender rule,” said Mr Kitonga.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAWS

But LSK council member Aggrey Mwamu said while the President’s advisers had failed him as suggested by Mr Mutua, the National Assembly was also to blame.

The former East Africa Law Society president said the House made laws on the Police Service that were unconstitutional.

Federation of Women Lawyers chairperson Ruth Aura said: “It is disturbing that the President has replaced the Deputy Inspector-General with a man, against the spirit of the Constitution.”

She said the decision, albeit temporary, lacked gender consideration.

Ms Kaindi’s nomination as an envoy to a yet-to-be-named country has been received with mixed feelings on social media.

Russia-based Mose Ogutu tweeted: “So, what’s the difference between this administration and that of President Moi?”

However, Heb Mosoni defended the appointment. “She holds a degree in a related field, MA in international business so she may be suited for such a position more than the police where she’s been,” he wrote.

In the US, Washington-based journalist Ali Badawy posted on his Facebook wall: “Jubilee’s diplomatic appointment would only make sense in the Nyayo era.”

But Anne Kithaka came to Ms Kaindi’s defence: “She is an astute civil servant with good diplomatic skills having served in various United Nations Missions.”

“You mean out of millions Kenyans, there isn’t another person capable of doing the job of a diplomat other than a retiring police officer?” asked PK Macharia.

Daniel Akasa wrote: “I do not see where the problem is. Ambassadorial positions are political paybacks for supporters, fundraisers, friends or associates.”

Timothy Ndegwa of Atlanta, Georgia, Kiswii Kisavi of Conyers, Georgia, and Kariuki Joshua opposed the nomination.

According to the National Police Service website, Ms Kaindi has vast experience in the force, which she has served since 1975.

Additional reporting by BMJ Muriithi