Former chairman of the defunct Transition Authority Kinuthia Wamwangi has spelt doom to police officers engaging in public transport business if he is appointed the next chairman of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC).
Kinuthia told the Public Service Commission interviewing panel that although the matter is now a policy issue after president Uhuru Kenyatta directed legal enactment barring the same, if he sails through, he would issue a blanket ban to all officers against being involved in matatu business. “This is a very serious problem I have identified of matatu business.
I will ban. I will not allow. I have given twenty policy recommendation to the panel against which I want to be judged once I become the commission chairman.” Kinuthia said. He singled out the need to digitise police records including the Occurence Book, performance management system and police recruitment, transfer and promotion.
On her part, retired justice Joyce Alouch pronounced that she is a “man enough to press the button” in reforming the National Police Service through policy guidance if she is offered the commission chairperson. Aluoch was the first candidate to be interviewed for the second day by the Public Service Commission alongside four others.
She enumerated her long legal career spanning for 44 years as her main strength in making rational and difficult leadership decisions. Having risen up the ranks as a Magistrate, High Court Judge and Court of Appeal Aluoch said she has the requisite qualifications to take over in guiding police welfare and policy for the service. Justice Aluoch retired in April last year after she was seconded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague where she worked for nine years.
“I am a very firm person. Having risen to where I am, it has not been easy. As a judge here in Kenya and at the ICC, I have always made very objective and impartial decisions. I want to assure this panel that I am a man enough to press the button.” Aluoch said.
She recalled how he issued orders against drug baron Ibrahim Akasha senior in a property tussle and defied attempts to deter further orders. “I remember it was not a very good case. A lawyer filed an application in Nairobi involving Ibrahim Akasha senior not the children. I issued orders and demanded Akasha appears in court the following morning.”
The justice told the interviewing panel without elaborating on material facts of the then case. Lucy Njeri Karuru, a conflict management and peace building expert was the second to appear in mid morning hours and advocated to inject gender mainstreaming in the commission and in the police service. Karuru has worked as a project manager with the USAID in Northen Kenya and has worked in Nigeria for four years in developing the country’s peace and security architecture.
“I have been seeking to get civilians to get involved in security in conflict management and peace building. The reform agenda I would focus if appointed as the chairperson of the commission is more coordination and complementarity. I would manage change in a strategic manner.” Karuru submitted. She committed to digitise commissions operations in recruitment of police, records and management of personnel if she is ranked the most qualified.
Former commissioner of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Albert Bwire highlighted concerns of extrajudicial killings and alleged corruption as documented in the Justice Philip Ransely report on police reforms as priority areas that need to be emphasised in the ongoing police reforms.
“I would seek to build consensus and trust amongst commissioners so that we purpose to work together. The most important thing for the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) is to collaborate with other agencies to ensure synergy and not talk about abstract independence,” Bwire added.
On Monday, the interviewing panel chaired by the Public Service Commission chairman Stephen Kirogo interviewed ten candidates from 8:30am to 8pm in the night. Others already interviewed for the commission chairperson post are Kenneth Marende, Elijah Kodoh, Peter Nkuraiyia, Zachary Mwangi, Muktar Abdi Ali, Eliud Kinuthia, Lucy Wanja, Elijah Nduati, Irene Njeri Wanyoike and Margaret Cheboiwo. Interviews for the 14 applicants shortlisted for the post of the commission chairperson ended yesterday. Thirty nine others who have been shortlisted for commissioners positions will appear before the panel tomorrow and Friday.