Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki has appointed a technical committee to review and develop policy reforms for the National Police Service (NPS), Kenya Prisons Service, and National Youth Service (NYS).
This is over a report by former Chief Justice David Maraga’s task force on reviewing the reforms within the NPS, NYS, and Kenya Prisons Service to improve the state of affairs.
The committee gazetted on Friday, August 23 comprises 13 members and seven joint secretaries.
The committee shall perform five key functions, which include analysing policy reforms as proposed in the Report of the National Taskforce on Improvement of the Terms and Conditions of Service, analysing reforms from other reports, reviewing and providing legal advice, drafting bills, and drafting policy proposals.
It will also be required to hold meetings to discuss the progress of the functions and create sub-committees to efficiently deliver its mandate.
The Technical Working Group shall prepare and submit a report to the Cabinet Secretary within nine months. At the CS’s discretion, he may extend the committee’s duration until the work is completed.
This means the reforms may take more than a year to be rolled out.
On the other hand, the committee’s secretariat will be facilitating consultations with their respective agencies and the committee.
The secretariat will develop and implement the Committee’s activities and prepare reports detailing the outcome.
The Terms of Reference of these technical committees include proposing amendments to key laws and policies governing the security sector.
These are the National Police Service (Amendment) Bill, the National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Amendment) Bill.
Additionally, the National Correctional Services Policy and the Kenya Correctional Services Bill are currently open for public participation.
In line with the reforms, the policing technical working group is also developing the National Forensic Laboratory Bill as well as reviewing the police training policy, curriculum, human resources, career progression guidelines, and police welfare management frameworks.
State counsel in the Attorney General’s office, Kepha Onyiso, was appointed as Chairperson of the committee and will be deputised by Musita Anyangu. Charles Otieno will act as the technical adviser.
Five officials from the Attorney General’s office were also included in the committee, they include Marion Muriithi, Seth Masese, Seko Brenda, Olivia Simiyu and Buhere Jay Sikuku.
Other members include the Kenya Law Reform Commission’s James Nombi and Susan Kamau and Maurice Okoth, as well as Rogers Marindi and Dickson Magotsi from the Internal Security Department.
The joint secretaries include Peter Karanjah (Internal Security), Charles Ismael Otieno (NPS), Judith Chebet (NPSC), Festus Kinoti (Independent Policing Oversight Authority), William Kailo (government chemist), Nicolas Makokha (NYS), and Humphrey Young (State Department for Correctional Services).
The government needs Sh108 billion to implement the far-reaching reforms.
The report identified specific issues such as political interference in NPS, corruption in employment and promotions, police training curriculum, an inadequate National Police Service Commission (NPSC), the role of the Cabinet Secretary responsible for National Security and the structure of the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) in the police.
While presenting the report, Maraga called for political goodwill in the implementation of the recommendations, saying similar proposals were previously made but never implemented.
“It also became clear that the reform recommendations stand little chance of being implemented if the leadership issues are not addressed,” Maraga said.
The task force noted that a major challenge in evaluating and determining the remuneration of the services has been the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s use of inappropriate tools and its lack of recognition that the services’ mandate and nature of work are unique and different from that of mainstream public service in terms of decision-making, risks, and disruption of family life, among other factors.
The team recommended the creation of “the Disciplined and Security Services Sector” comprising the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), National Intelligence Service (NIS), NPS, KPS, and NYS as a separate budget sector.
The team recommended that the basic salary of the members of the three services be raised by 40 per cent at the lowest constable level with a decompression ratio, based on the current salary.
For non-uniformed members of NPS, given their work environment, the Taskforce recommended a new allowance to improve their terms and conditions of service.
To address complaints of misappropriation, the task force recommended that the payment of all allowances should be automated and promptly made directly into the officers’ bank accounts.
