National Police Service Spokesman Charles Owino has differed with Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i over qualification considering when hiring new officers.
In an interview on Wednesday, Owino defended the move to hire recruits with D+, noting that those with higher grades often go back to school and come back with a lot of demands.
According to Owino, those with grades C and below tend to work for the service for long and grow through the ranks.
“We have a challenge when we employ every policeman with Grade C+ and above. They go back to school, get degrees and come back and ask for promotions. It is important we get officers who have C plain, C – and D+,” he said.
Speaking a few days ago, CS Matiang’i argued that it is necessary for the police service to review its entry requirements and raise the academic qualification from D+.
While making the recommendation, CS Matiang’i noted that fresh police graduates with academic qualification of Grade D+ cannot match tech-savvy criminals.
“This is why I have been fighting that we look at the cut-off point of the people we are admitting. Surely, if we are admitting you with a D plus then we are telling you to go to the complex science of analysing blood and preparing a document that the DPP is going to use in court to prove murder, are we serious honestly? Are we serious?”
“Let me be frank and I am not besmirching you my brother, the capacities we need are not there because we cannot hope that the constables we have trained in Kiganjo are the ones who are going to deal with the complexities we are discussing to help the DPP deal with a rape case,” Matiang’i said.
