Thousands of youths yearning to join the National Police Service (NPS) will have to wait a little bit longer after the government rescheduled a planned recruitment.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure told MPs that the exercise that was to be conducted this year will be held next year.
“We shall be conducting the recruitment early next year…we cannot have it this year, we are late,” Kindiki said without revealing more details.
This, he said, includes that of the prison service which had also been planned for this year.
The CS was responding to a question from members of the National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity about the exercise and plans in place to address the rampant cases of bribery during recruitment.
The last nationwide recruitment for police was in March 2022 while that of the prison officers was conducted in April.
President William Ruto presided over the pass-out in January and April this year respectively.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’uin his budget state ment, allocated Sh98.6 billion to the National Police Service and Prisons Service Sh31.3 billion.
A total of Sh3.2 billion was set for the recruitment of police officers.
In other allocations, Sh8.8 billion will be used for leasing police vehicles to allow easy movement and another Sh500 million will be used to modernize police equipment.
Kindiki at the same time vowed to ensure that the upcoming recruitment is free and devoid of bribery.
Head of Public Service Felix Koskei who spoke Friday expressed concern over the vice saying it has painted the Police as a very corrupt Service.
The recruitment of new officers in all services including Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), he said, has been marred with reports of bribery every year with Kenyans paying up to Sh600,000.
“In the recently concluded recruitment, we received reports of recruits who had to part with a bribe of Sh600,000. Parents sold shambas, cows and all manner of assets which begs the question “What kind of officers will these recruits become on graduation? Will they not feel the need to recoup their “initial investment”? he posed.
The bribe, he added, appears to have grown from Sh60,000 in 2008 to Sh600,000 in 2021 as was captured in Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Report of 2008.
