Eight police commanders interviewed for positions of DIGs

Eight shortlisted candidates for the positions of Deputy Inspector General for both Kenya Police Service and Administration Police Services Monday appeared before the National Police Service Commission for interviews.

The positions were left vacant after former Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome resigned on July 12.

President William Ruto later appointed the then KPS DIG Douglas Kanja as acting IG.

Ruto also removed Noor Gabow from the position of DIG APS and named James Kamau as acting DIG and appointed commandant General Service Unit Eliud Lagat as acting DIG KPS.

All the candidates vying for the DIG post were required to be of the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police and above.

Those who appeared before the Eliud Kinuthia-led Commission for the Kenya Police DIG were the Coast Region Police Commander George Sedah, Lagat, Tom Odero and Vincent Makokha.

On the other hand, Gilbert Masengeli, Margaret Karanja, Kamau and Masood Mwinyi were interviewed for the Administration Police DIG position.

Other members of the panel include Kanja, Director of Criminal Investigation Mohamed Amin, Commissioners Edwin Cheluget, John Ole Moyaki, Lilian Kiamba and National Police Service accounting officer Bernice Sialaal.

The commission is set to name the top performers by Friday this week.

“The office is now under a caretaker and the law requires that immediately the appointing authority declares that there are changes in that office.”

"My office is mandated by the law to exactly take 14 days and give a report to the appointing authority on a suitable candidate that we will be recommending for substantive appointment to this position,” Kinuthia said.

“So the process that the commission is undertaking here is a competitive recruitment, competitive filling of a vacant position, which is guided by the law and, more specifically, Section 14 of the National Police Service Act and also Article 32, which requires that the commission or the parliament or the president, whenever an appointment or a promotion is being done, it must be done in a competitive way.”

Kinuthia said the interviewees were taken through a structured process of engagement as the panel sought to evaluate their preparedness and their readiness to perform in the office of DIG.

He termed the interviews as ‘an internal competition’ of the commission’s staff.

“There is nobody who comes from outside the police service who is qualified to compete for this position. So we are dealing with our staff, staff whom we know, staff whom we have seen perform, and we know their competencies,” he said.

He added that the requirement for this position, you must be a serving police officer who has attained the rank of Assistant Inspector General and above.

“We are looking at an all-around person, a good leader, a good commander, a person who can be confident to lead the officers of other ranks below, and also a person who can be able to lead change and reforms in the National Police Service,” the chairman said.

The chairman said the incoming DIGs will be tasked to boost the morale of the officers, by offering sound leadership and guidance to the officers as per the police Standing Orders.

After the interviews, NPSC will forward their recommendations to Ruto for him to appoint the best-suited candidate.

For the first time, the commission will be interviewing female officers as the clamour for gender balance in public offices intensifies.

“We've tried to have a gender distribution to the best that we could. Some men and women applied. We'll also be meeting candidates of both genders, women and also men in this. And all of them will have a fair and equal opportunity before this panel,” Kinuthia said.

The commission said that it had established a portal where members of the public could post their queries about any officer who was being interviewed.

“We know what role the police officers play in this country to maintain law and order and to ensure that life and property are also secured.”

Kinuthia urged the public to support the police in their mission to maintain law and order.

“We saw in the previous days that have been there, we've seen some very good Kenyans who have assisted the police officers in the cause of doing their duty. We have seen police officers being supported, even being helped from being harmed by the citizens of this country. I want to commend such a good gesture by the citizens.”

He called on security officers to exercise restraint when handling protestors following the public outcry of police brutality during Gen Z’s protests.

“Do not allow anger to come in when you are doing your job professionally. Handle the citizens with care, handle the citizens the way they should, especially in the light of the many crowd control and public order events that we have seen going on,” he said.

He committed to ensuring the welfare of the officers and their families is well taken care of adding that the officers will be expected to do their job professionally.