RECCE officers were given Sh 500 lunch allowance after Garissa attack

After 15 months of intensive training at the General Service Unit (GSU) training school, the best of the best from the graduating lot is selected to join the elite RECCE company for more intensive training. They are further trained on  close quarter combat (CQC) and dealing with hostage situations. The elite RECCE officers are able to neutralize enemies even without fire arms

As members of the elite squad highly depended on by the country, they put their lives on the line of fire to protect innocent civilians. Having received their training in Israel, USA and here in the country, RECCE is considered the last resort unit in security matters. They carry out their duties with precision, with the aim of accomplishing their mission in the shortest time possible, after which they immediately vacate the scene of crime

Last year, it took the elite RECCE squad 5 minutes to take down a gun man who had battled regular police officers for close to six hours in Muthangari, Nairobi. In Buruburu, the same RECCE team took down a gangsta who was hiding in a residential house. He had battled police officers for more than 5 hours- RECCE officers eliminated him in less than 5 minutes

In the recent Garissa attack, it took the RECCE team only 12 minutes to finish the Al Shabaab Militants who had kept KDF soldiers on their toes for more than 10 hours without success.

Despite being directly positioned in the line of fire every time they are deployed, sources within the elite RECCE squad say they are poorly remunerated and ill motivated, with unscrupulous bosses always preying on their allowances.

In the Garissa attack incident, despite taking down the four terrorists and even loosing one of their own, they were only given a lunch allowance of Sh 500 each as opposed to Sh 3,000 as the norm.

The RECCE commandos, considered to be lethal weapons even without guns are put on similar salaries with other officers of their ranks in different disciplines of the national police service, with a Sh 4000 monthly salary that they previously earned having been scrapped