IG Boinnet names new regional police bosses

The Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet has appointed eight regional commanders in the first phase of command restructuring announced last September.

Mr Boinnet announced the appointment of Mr Rashid Yakub as western regional commander, Mr Philip Ndolo (Nairobi), Ms Judy Lamet (Central), Mr Edward Mwamburi (Rift Valley), Mr Vincent Makokha (Nyanza), Mr Marcus Ochola (Coast), Ms Eunice Kihiko (Eastern) and Mr Paul Soi (North Eastern).

Mr Boinnet said the serving regional police commanders from Kenya Police and Administration Police have been recalled and will be redeployed within the National Police Service.

“No one will lose their job. They will retain their ranks and will be deployed within the police service,” he said.

The IG said the new appointees will be fully in charge of all police operations and must co-ordinate with county commanders to ensure effective policing.

Mr Boinnet said new county commanders will also be named soon. "I want to assure all Kenyans that police reforms and transformation are on course. We have started implementing the directives given to us in September last year by President Uhuru Kenyatta and as we speak, all police officers have received their first house allowance for last month," the IG said.

According to Mr Boinnet, the allowances were approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission last December.

He said officers who do not have houses under the police housing project are expected to seek alternative housing by end of this month.

The IG said they have already procured new uniforms for police officers with materials sourced from local manufacturers.

“All materials will be sourced from local manufacturers and the uniforms will be stitched by the National Youth Service," he said.

The police boss said the service is looking forward to launching its first digitisation programme mid January to be launched by Interior CS Fred Matiang'i in Kilifi.

"We are migrating from the manual way of doing things to full digitisation and we shall focus on three areas: personnel management, administrative procedures and occurrence book and crime management system," Mr Boinett said.

Mr Boinnet announced the changes accompanied by his deputies Mr Edward Mbugua (Kenya Police) and Mr Noor Gabow (AP), DCI George Kinoti and the National Police Service Commission CEO George Onyango.