- The affected officers have already taken their salaries and worn the insignia.
- This means the commission will have to ratify the promotions unless the saga continues in court and further directions are issued.
Image: FILE
Members of the National Police Service Commission will meet again on Thursday in a bid to end the standoff between IG Japhet Koome and NPSC chairman Eliud Kinuthia over the promotion of officers.
Last month, Koome promoted some 514 senior officers, a move that was later denounced by the Commission with Kinuthia accusing the police chief of acting against the law.
Last week, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki reprimanded the NPSC chiefs and asked them to put their house in order after the standoff ended up in court.
He said actions, public exchanges of letters and press releases between Koome and Kinuthia group amount to a violation of Chapter Six of the Constitution and is the highest level of irresponsibility, and continues to erode public confidence.
Kindiki warned that they can easily give the basis for removal from office through a tribunal for gross misconduct and for undermining the Constitution.
Other officials have faulted him for being unable to solve such an issue.
And on Tuesday, the commissioners met for the better part of the day at the commission's Skypark headquarters in Westlands to resolve the impasse.
All commissioners including Koome, his deputies Douglas Kanja and Noor Gabow were present. The Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin was also present.
The meeting ended late in the evening and the commissioners agreed to meet again on Thursday to complete what they had started on Tuesday.
It was the first such meeting in months following disagreement among the commissioners on how to handle the issue of the promotions in the service.
The meeting came after the Employment and Labour Relations Court on June 22, stopped Koome from implementing the promotion of 514 senior officers.
The court at the same time ordered the Commission to forthwith convene a meeting of all the parties with a view of amicably considering resolving the dispute within its investigative, conciliation, mediation and negotiation functions and powers envisaged in Article 252(1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution.
Justice Bryam Ongaya issued temporary orders barring Koome from implementing the changes pending the inter-parties hearing on June 29, of a petition filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah.
“Pending the inter-parties hearing of the application or further orders by the Court, interim orders are hereby given staying the implementation of promotions affecting 514 police officers said to have been unilaterally effected on 5th June 2023 in the National Police Service,” the judge ruled.
Ongaya further issued orders staying the implementation of the memo by the Koome on June 9, prohibiting police officers from applying to fill the 514 vacancies in the National Police Service as already advertised in the press by the NPSC.
The affected officers have already taken their salaries and worn the insignia.
This means the Commission will have to ratify the promotions unless the saga continues in court and further directions are issued.
Under Article 252 of the Constitution, each commission, and each holder of an independent office may conduct investigations on its own initiative or on a complaint made by a member of the public and has the powers necessary for conciliation, mediation and negotiation.
Ongaya said a compromise may be recorded in Court at the next date for inter parties hearing, further directing that the hearing of the application or further orders and directions will be on June 29.
Omtatah and activist Michael Otieno in their petition filed at the court challenged the promotions, saying Koome did not follow the right procedure, and wants the court to suspend the promotions.
They sought orders quashing IG’s unilateral promotion of the officers without reference to the NPSC, quashing IG’s memo dated June 9, instructing senior officers to inform the security agents under their command to disregard the NPSC’s advertisement and order of Mandamus compelling the NPSC to, strictly in accordance with the law, proceed and fill the 514 vacancies in the NPS as it advertised in the press on June 9.
Omtatah had also filed another case at the constitutional court but did not get orders.
He has, however, given a notice to withdraw the case raising questions how the court entertained similar cases at the same time.
NPSC chairman Eliud Kinuthia and CEO Peter Leley have opposed the promotions announced by Koome.