Kenya’s City Police transfers causing discontent amongst junior ranks
policeman undergoing specialised training at Kenya airforce police school
By Hudson Gumbihi
SOME police officers in Nairobi, Kenya, are resisting a directive to move to new stations consequently disruption routine operations.
The defiant officers complain that transfers asking them to move to other provinces were effected at the most inappropriate months of last December and January when they feasting and taking children to schools respectively.
Following the reluctance to move, Vigilance House has ordered senior officers to explain why the targeted cops mainly Constables and Corporals have not vacated reporting to new stations, which are in dire need of their services.
Exit Major General Hussein Ali
There are murmurs of discontent to the effect that the transfers were unprecedented and whose only motive was malice following the exit of former police commissioner Major General Hussein Ali.
“We think when Iteere (current police commissioner) took over, some senior officers surrounding him seized the opportunity to settle scores by misleading him to affect massive transfers, something that never happened before,” said a police officer.
The officer added that those given transfer letters are demanding to be given disturbance allowances (transfer allowances) before they move since they exhausted their finances on holidays and school fees.
Over the years, officers have not enjoyed the stipend which has accumulated to about Shs 196 million. A pledge was made by government to have the allowances paid this year after the National Task Force on Police Reforms recommended while heading over findings to President Mwai Kibaki last year.
Delayed allowances
Internal Security minister George Saitoti had told officers they will started receiving the allowances from January- however the money was never reflected on their pay slips prompting a go-slow.
The latest development is another bid to force the government to fulfill the pledge. “The officers have no money for settling at the new stations, they have spent everything on celebrations and fees and that is why they don’t want to move,” said a senior officer.
The Philip Ransley-led Task Force proposed for a moratorium on mass transfers unless in exceptional cases until all problems associated with current transfer practices are resolved. “Unless there is pressing need for transfers, they should be affected only when there are adequate budgetary provisions to pay transfer allowance,” states the report.
Transfers at end of school year
The task force suggested transfers to be done between the last week of November and third week of December of every year, unless otherwise so as to allow officers with families and children to organize themselves properly.
“Where an officer has children attending school in the current duty station, the department shall continue to facilitate their continued stay until the end of that school year if the officer does not wish to transfer such children in the mid year,” observed the Ransley team.
The team farther recommend against frequent transfers and called on the government to consider basic furnishing of police quarters to reduce the cost and burden of officers moving with their luggage on transfer and accommodation.
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