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The Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has divulged that plans are underway to look afresh into the ecosystem of the police service with a view to streamlining gender relations among officers.
Speaking yesterday during the official opening ceremony of direct entry cadet inspectors course at the National Police College Kiganjo Campus in Nyeri, he said that some female members of the service have complained about sexual harassment and some of them have complained about mistreatment.
“Some female members of the service have complained about sexual harassment, some of them have complained about mistreatment, we have investigated some of the cases, but because we did not have a stringent ecosystem, some things have fallen through the cracks. It won’t happen that way in the future,” said Matiang’i.
He said that there shall be a review of the National Police Service Standing Orders to address intimate relationships between senior gazetted officers and their juniors, which has the potential of undermining command, order and discipline among officers.
Additionally, he said that cases of sexual harassment in the Service will be orderly room proceedings type of cases.
“and officers involved should be stripped off their ranks and gotten out of the Service. We must compete with and match the standards of others,” he said.
“If we are not disciplined ourselves, we cannot hope that we will be able to discipline those who work
with us and offer competent and efficient services to our people. We will not have a police service where
some of our members feel mistreated.”
Further, he reiterated that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has been operating using these regulations, which also happen to be the best practices in other countries across the globe.
Those already married across the ranks won’t be affected by the planned changes.
In July last year, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said they were investigating complaints by some female police officers that they are sexually harassed by their seniors.
The authority said the officers had sent confidential details of their alleged ordeals, claiming that some of their bosses demand sexual favours.
“They said if they refuse, they face intimidation and threats of disciplinary action, transfer to remote areas, demotion and even sacking,” the authority said.
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