Improve welfare of police officers

Policemen and women bear the brunt of this somewhat unnecessary way of dealing with issues within the National Police Service. The transfer system is outdated and not fit for purpose of improving service delivery in the public sector.

Northern Kenya has, in fact, become fodder for corrupt police officers and civil servants. Just last week, a number of them were arrested while helping foreigners to enter Kenya illegally.

It won’t take a genius to work out that bribing is part and parcel of northern Kenya culture as it is of the rest of the country.

The recent transfer of the police as ordered by the cabinet secretary for Interior, Prof Kithure Kindiki, is a sticking plaster solution.

Like in past similar attempts, this move won’t end the rot in police behaviour or corruption. What is needed is rank and file reforms. This must start by looking at the current police welfare and replace it with one that will motivate the officers to serve the public more diligently.

The recently reported corruption cases, especially of traffic police officers, is one reason the transfers were effected. But transfers alone will not end the vice.

Two issues that will undermine the transfer system are first, the abundance of victims that police rely on for bribes. These are found across the length and breadth of the country.

Moving a police officer from one roadblock and taking him to a different part of the country to man another is as good as shifting him from one cash machine to the next.

Secondly, if corrupt police officers realise that no punishment is forthcoming for the godfathers of corruption, they won’t be too bothered. There must be a deterrent when it comes to corruption in the country. There is very little of it!

A good example for the police must be set by punishing the Big Fish first. If this is not happening, many more officials, just like the police officers, will continue to be corrupt—and worse. The government is wrong to bear the barrels on the police service alone when it comes to corruption yet the vice is worse at the top of the eating chain.

Mental health decline

Transferring police officers as a punitive measure is something that now needs to be reconsidered. This is frustrating of the police, especially those with families. The isolation, instability and separation from one’s family could, perhaps, be contributing to the increase in mental health decline of many of the police officers, which mostly result in suicide.

Just like other Kenyans, police officers have the right to family life and their transfer must take into account the possibility of moving them with their kin or not at all. The other issue to consider is whether a police officer should be allowed to serve in their home county to minimise cases of bribery and create harmony between the service and the public. It is always better the devil you know. Many a time, the fraught relationship between the police and the public is borne of unfamiliarity and cultural differences.

One other factor to consider is whether it is time local residents elected their senior police officers, as is the case in other countries, to increase accountability and give the public more say in how they are policed in their areas. Every part of Kenya is different, and one-size-fits-all police policy cannot serve all situations and places.

We have always lamented how corrupt the Kenyan police is but, despite years of lamentations, very little has been done to improve their welfare. It is only common sense to know that poor pay is a major factor that inspires police officers to turn to corruption.

As I mentioned previously, the police have been given a lot of powers with little motivation in monetary and material terms. As a results, they abuse that power to illegally enrich themselves through bribery and being stubbornly corrupt.

It is, therefore, important to rethink the whole idea of transferring the bad elements in the public service and instead look at the causal effect of that behaviour and its remedy. One way of doing that is by improving the welfare of workers through better pay and working conditions.

Police in Kenya are neither well paid nor have good working conditions. Some of them hardly have anywhere decent to stay or work from. We all know of dingy police stations and slum-like mabati ‘homes’ some of the officers are kept in.

Let us end knee-jerk reactions of jumping to punitive measures first. Police need much more consideration and care to serve the country better. Start by looking at their welfare. The transfer system is no longer effective against corruption and incompetence.

- Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected]. @kdiguyo