The National Police Service (NPS) has warned Kenyans against misleading recruitment date announcements.
In a statement on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, NPS said the reports taking rounds on social media are fake.
“We wish to inform the public to disregard the FAKE news circulating on social media platforms regarding the purported recruitment into the National Police Service in January 2024,” read the statement.
The fake reports circulating on social media had indicated that the Kenya Police recruitment was to commence officially on Friday, January 5.
Postponed 2023 Recruitment
In September 2023, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki rescheduled the planned recruitment to 2024.
Further, the CS Kindiki told Members of Parliament (MPs) that the postponed recruitment included that of the prison service department.
“We shall be conducting the recruitment early next year (2024), we cannot have it this year, we are late,” Kindiki said without revealing more details.
Kindiki was responding to concerns by members of the National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity about the exercise and plans in place to address the rampant cases of bribery during recruitment.
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Notably, the last nationwide recruitment for police was in March 2022 while that of the prison officers was conducted in April 2023.
Also, Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u allocated Ksh.98.6 billion to the National Police Service and Prisons Service Ksh.31.3 billion in his budget statements.
Additionally, the government allocated Ksh.8.8 billion for leasing police vehicles to allow easy movement.
The Treasury also set aside another Ksh.500 million for the modernization of police equipment.
Kindiki at the same time vowed to ensure that the upcoming recruitment is free and devoid of bribery.
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National Police Service
NPS is under the independent command of the Inspector General Japhet Koome.
The creation of the NPS is provided for by the Constitution, the National Police Service Act 2011 and the National Police Service Commission Act 2011.
In accordance with the provisions, the National Police Service consists of: The Kenya Police Service (KPS), the Administration Police Service (APS), Directorate Criminal Investigations (DCI), and the Internal Affair Unit.
KPS, the APS and the DCI are each headed by a Deputy Inspector General.