IG Boinnet urges public to report corruption during police recruitment

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has called on Kenyans to report any cases of corruption during the police recruitment exercise that begins on Monday.

Boinnet urged the public to call the police through 999, 911 and 112 to report any cases of unethical conduct during the exercise.

Already, one person has been arrested in Nairobi after he attempted to defraud a family of Ksh50,000 promising to help their son get enlisted into the service.

The police commission will be seeking to recruit 10,000 new people in a bid to enhance security in the country.

Past exercises have been marred by cases of bribery and favouritism, eliciting wide condemnations from the public.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) report released in 2014 indicated that police recruitment in that year was marred by corruption and unaccountability which led to the filing of a petition to have the process cancelled and repeated afresh.

“The NPSC through a multi-sectorial committee carried out an internal audit of the process and agreed with IPOA’s findings that indeed there were irregularities and recommended a repeat in 36 recruitment centres,” read the report in part.

In November last year, the High Court nullified the recruitment of over 10,000 police recruits and ordered the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to conduct the exercise afresh.

The ruling, made by Justice Isaac Lenaola, was reached following a petition by IPOA to have the exercise nullified and bar the NPSC from issuing the recruits with appointment letters.

Bomet, Nyandarua, Tigoni East, Kangema, Kigumo, Nyeri, Narok, Kipkelion Centre,West Pokot are among the regions that were affected by the nullification, necessitating a fresh recruitment that was held in April last year.

@benjaminwafula