Kenya unveils reforms in police service to enhance security

Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-14 01:43:32|Editor: yan
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NAIROBI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday announced major reforms in the police service to help enhance security across the country.

The reforms involved the structure, command, control and welfare of the National Police Service, including integration of functions, rebranding, renaming and scrapping of some positions.

"They (reforms) will clarify and simplify command and control, increase both accountability and performance," he told a two-day conference attended by all senior police officers in Nairobi. "They will make the police more than equal to the threats that face our nation."

Kenyatta, who received a task force report on police reforms, said the reforms are aimed at making the police a "service that is respected" rather than "a force that is feared."

The report spells out an array of measures to unify the Kenya Police and the Kenya Administration Police formations.

Analysts said the reforms will be welcomed by the junior police officers who have traditionally lived in congested houses with no option of living in houses of their choice.

The officers will now be paid house allowance and will live in places of their choice.

"To solve the problem of housing police and prisons officers, and to better integrate them with the Kenyans they serve, the policy of mandatory and free housing for junior officers in institutional houses is hereby abolished. Instead, house allowances for all ranks of these officers will be provided," Kenyatta said.

He said all police officers will receive training to help them better understand the new structure and functions, noting that the reforms are aimed at raising the morale of the security officers by improving their conditions of service.

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