1,000 police officers to be promoted after training

More than 1,000 police officers are set to be promoted after they successfully complete short training courses at the National Police College in Kiganjo.

A circular issued on Friday to all formations commanders across the country by the college’s commandant Japhet Koome disclosed that the candidates picked for the courses belong to all ranks and units including GSU, Tourism Police Unit, Internal Affairs Unit, Kenya Police Airwing,K-9 unit, Maritime unit, Diplomatic unit and traffic.

The officers are expected to prepare for the courses that begin in two weeks’ time after a prolonged suspension of training programmes at the institution due to Covid 19 concerns in April last year.

The courses will take between two weeks to six months to complete.

The National Police Service Commission’s career guidelines that seek to discourage haphazard progression and ensure merit is the basis for promotions state that officers must undergo skills upgrading training courses for them to rise to the higher ranks.

The courses are designed to each unit’s operational requirements with a delineation of duties and responsibilities at all ranks from a police constable to the Inspector General.

The training will help partly deal with lingering disquiet over promotions that rocked the service, being cited as a major morale killer for officers who have stagnated in one rank over the years.

In May 2019, however, IG Hilary Mutyambai announced that officers who have served in the same rank for over 15 years would be promoted.

In 2019, graduate police officers moved to court seeking to have their pay harmonised with their academic qualifications.

Labour court judge Byram Ongaya ordered the National Police Service Commission to effect the changes to all officers who prove the authenticity of their academic credentials.

The judge ruled that denying graduate constables their deserved salaries was a violation and infringement of the officers fundamental rights and freedoms.

However; later, IG Mutyambai said the service would appeal the ruling on grounds that it was not tenable. “If the 1,774 graduate non-commissioned officers excluding 335 prison officers are paid as inspectors of police in job group J as ordered by the court, it would have serious financial implication on the budget since the government will require sh 928 million annually to serve the new wage bill for services not rendered,” the IG said in a statement.

Promotions at the police commission are now a constant crisis that the leadership is finding ways to manage following an increase in the number of officers seeking higher academic qualifications.