NPS understaffed by 200,000 personnel, traffic police most corrupt, Eacc report shows
A damning audit report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) has accused senior police officers of giving juniors target amount of money they should extort from civilians through bribes ranking them as the most corrupt.
Further, painted a grim picture of a heavily understaffed National Police Service by up to 200,000 police personnel fueled by exits of serving officers in the last three years due to non-policing assignments, natural attrition, dismissals and resignations without replacements.
Notably, according to the report, the Kenya Police Service headed by Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat saw a total of 3,229 police officer exit the service in the last three years.
The audit established the existence of rampant corruption, cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling dogging the service.
Further, the report has recommended for the disbandment of the current traffic unit and periodic rotation of officers handling traffic duties to curb widespread extortion and bribery within the National Police Service (NPS).
Speaking during the presentation, Eacc Secretary and CEO Abdi Mohamud described the report as a “bold statement” of intent by the NPS to “right a past characterised by diminished public trust and perceptions of corruption.”
The audit was conducted between February and June 2025 revealed deep-rooted corruption across the service, with the traffic department singled out as the most compromised.
The findings indicate that proceeds from these illegal collections are channeled up the chain of command, institutionalising bribery within the traffic unit, with some officers fabricating charges against operators who fail to pay.
The report shows that traffic officers routinely subject Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) to daily and route-level extortion, collecting “protection fees” from matatu SACCOs and boda boda riders, often under directives from their seniors.
“They expose all PSVs to routine daily extortion. There were also allegations of targets given to these officers by their seniors,” said EACC Director of Preventive Services Vincent Okongo, who presented the report on Thursday, November 13, 2025 at the National Police Leadership Academy in Ngong.
“For boda boda and matatu SACCOs, they also collect protection fees — and if you don’t give, they fabricate charges against you.”
“This was not a fault-finding exercise, but one geared towards strengthening governance systems and making them more resilient to corruption vulnerabilities,” said Mohamud, who commended Inspector General Douglas Kanja and his deputies for their cooperation during the process.
The systems audit examined policies, procedures, and practices across core departments of the NPS, including the Kenya Police Service, Administration Police Service, Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Internal Affairs Unit, and police training colleges.
It cited irregularities in recruitment, transfers, and deployments, manipulation of disciplinary procedures, and non-compliance with the NPS Act.
