Police Recruitment Exercise nullified by High Court
The High Court has nullified the whole of 2014 police recruitment exercise. This is a hard slap on the face for 10,000 young Kenyans who had successfully gone though the grueling process to join the uniformed forces.
High Court Judge Justice Isaac Lenaola who delivered the devastating ruling accused the national police commission of abdicating its responsibilities and delegating the same to the sub county committees, an issue he termed unconstitutional.
Justice Lenaola ruled that drastic action, however painful and unpopular it may be to the national police commission and other constitutional organs and a reminder that the constitution is alive and well. He added that the police commission failed itself, Kenyans and all the recruits as well.
The nullification now means that all successful candidates of the July 2014 police recruitment exercise that attracted immense controversy will not be issued with appointment letters. The exercise which was aimed at recruiting 10,000 more boots on the ground to fight crime and the ever changing face of terror had until Friday seen its fair share of challenges
Immediately when the exercise was concluded in July, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) moved to court calling for the nullification of the whole exercise claiming it was marred by corruption. This lead to the formation of a multi-agency task-force by the Kavulundi commission to probe the claims. The taskforce recommended the nullification of results in 36 recruitment centers across the country. The commission also moved the reporting date for new recruits from 3rd August to 3rd October before suspending the exercise indefinitely pending determination of the suit.
The High Court’s ruling on Friday means the Sh 80 million spent on the recruitment exercise will go to waste and the government will wait a little longer before achieving its target of increasing police presence on the ground. The commission may now be forced to reallocate its budget to conduct a fresh exercise or wait until the next supplementary budget in March next year before it can conduct a fresh recruitment exercise.
In the mean time, the National police service may be forced to delay the retirement of police officers to fill in the gaps before new recruits are selected, trained and deployed.
