Police officers to serve for 10 years after special training

Parliament has approved a proposal that seeks to compel police officers sponsored for specialised training by taxpayers to serve in the public sector for at least 10 years before leaving for private sector jobs.

Those to be affected by the new requirements will be specialised officers in critical departments such as ballistics, forensics, document examination, fraud detection, money laundering, transnational and cyber crime.

“Many police detectives are hired by both government and private institutions as soon as they acquire necessary expertise and experience. We need to ensure that these officers, trained at public expense, serve the public for some time before crossing over to greener pastures,” said Sirisia MP John Waluke.

MPs endorsed Mr Waluke’s Motion which will see regular, administration and prisons officers refund the public funds used in their training if they opt out of service before the mandatory 10 years end.

Remuneration

The MPs also demanded that the government considers proper remuneration, accommodation and welfare of security officers even as it moves to implement the motion.

Mr Waluke, a former Kenya Army Major, said he would be drafting a Bill to anchor the letter and spirit of the motion in law.

“I will come up with a Bill to ensure the welfare of officers are taken care off by the government. This motion is the beginning of everything and I thank MPs for their support,” he told MPs.

He said the Kenya Police Service spends considerable resources on training officers. He said the hiring of highly trained security officers by the private sector had resulted in delayed and botched investigations of critical prosecutions.

Makueni MP Daniel Maanzo successfully amended the motion to require the government to consider proper remuneration, accommodation and welfare of police officers.

“This motion is timely and is about the terms of service of our officers. We have been unable to retain highly trained officers in the service owing to poor remuneration,” Dido Rasso, the MP for Saku said.

“Their housing conditions should also be improved. We need to look at the entire security force including chiefs and their assistants,” said MP Patrick Ntutu.