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{
    "id": 519071,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/519071/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 216,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Katoo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 199,
        "legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
        "slug": "judah-ole-metito"
    },
    "content": "purport to be fighting crime when we are still analogue in terms of equipment that is used in fighting crime. Therefore, if this nominee is given the necessary support and budget, more so by this House, which is the House that allocates resources to all Government agencies, this can be achieved. He also talked about the perennial problem of cattle rustling and the re-emergence of the outlawed criminal groups in this country. Going by his vision of creating partnership with the Kenyan people, this issue of cattle rustling and the re-emergence of outlawed criminal groups can be dealt with by consulting and involving communities. Another key issue that he told the Committee about is rationalizing the posting of police officers. I know there is shortage of police officers. We have about 80,000 police officers. We are short of the internationally required standard of one police officer for 450 civilians. The Jubilee administration is trying to bring the current ratio of about 1:900 down. Were it not for the court cases that nullified the recruitment of 10,000 police officers, that ratio would have come down. Be that as it may, there is need to rationalize the posting of existing police officers. There will be no need, as he said--- We should get rid of this culture of posting police officers to hardship areas as a form of punishment. That should be out of the question as we speak now. There is no need for that. When you post a police officer to a hardship area and he knows that he is being punished, even the performance of that police officer will go down. That, as he promised the Committee, should not be a policy in the NPS, if he gets approved. Again, he should relook into issues of police officers overstaying in one station. We all know that in the code of duty, it is about a maximum of three years for one police officer in one station. But you find some police officers who have stayed for over 20 years in one station. It becomes business as usual. He gets integrated in the local community and becomes one of them. This way, it becomes very difficult to remain neutral in the performance of his duty. In terms of reward, we should not see police officers being sent to weigh bridges, the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) or constitutional commissions as a way of rewarding them. He should try as much as possible to inculcate the culture of merit and equity in the police service. A lot has been said about co-ordination of security organs, but this nominee, as he told the Committee, comes from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and going to the NPS, he can thus act as a link between the intelligence-collecting agency and the implementing agency. By so doing, I am sure he can provide what we call intelligence- led policing. That intelligence-led policing is going to be very effective and efficient in protecting our country, that is the citizens and their property. I like the experience of this nominee. He has served in the diplomatic service. As my colleagues who spoke before me have said, that diplomatic experience can be brought into NPS and he can act as a link locally, regionally and internationally in terms of improving the image of our NPS. There is also the issue of command in terms of the two arms of the NPS, the Administration Police and the regular police, especially at the county and sub-county levels. There was an agreement that the senior most police officer at either unit, be it at sub-county or the county level, should be picked to be the one in The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}