References: Appointments at the very top of law enforcement agencies (commissioners of police, prisons, intelligence, etc.) are political, even if the candidates are professionally qualified. The immediate past police commissioner was a career soldier, brought into the force despite their being several senior career police officers who could have taken the job.

Other middle-level appointments in the agencies are handled by respective service commissions. Recruitment of the junior uniformed cadre is done through an open field exercise in which applicants with appropriate paper qualifications go through rigorous physical exercises. However, the shortlisting of candidates for the interviews is often fraught with corruption as politicians and senior officers within the agencies pressurize for their preferred candidates to be interviewed and absorbed. See commentary at [ LINK ].

References: The budgets of law enforcement agencies are voted through Parliament like all other government departmental budgets. While elite elements of law enforcement agencies like the National Security Intelligence Service and the Tourism Police Unit have adequate and timely resources, other elements like the regular Kenya police and Kenya prisons are visibly resource-constrained.

Since 2003, the NARC government has invested substantially in improving the living conditions of junior police officers in barracks that had been atrocious, yet these efforts have not been widespread with officers in the smaller towns and rural areas continuing to live in sub-standard conditions. More resources are required to improve the dress of officers, while operational budgets also need to improve so that members of the public are not asked to pay for security services, such as fueling a police vehicle or buying airtime to get the police to investigate a complaint.

Very substantive reforms have been in the pipeline since the formation of the February 2008 Grand Coalition Government, including reforms to security organs. Hopefully, the reforms will be accompanied by a review of budget resources.

Peer Review Comments: It is, indeed, this underfunding of the police force that is to blame for the untamed appetite for bribery within the force. And a compromised police force can only fail in delivering its mandate adequately to the public. There have been more than three cases during the period under review where police officers have been caught red-handed in league with thugs.

References: There are security agency activities that are highly politicized, and others that are not. Given the nature of the recruitment process, and in light of the fact that these agencies are funded by and serve the government, their operations are substantially politicized. This was quite apparent during electioneering ahead of the Dec. 27, 2007 general election. While police bias may not have been apparent or rampant, isolated instances like the last-minute cancellation of a permit for an opposition rally illustrate the force's vulnerability to political manipulation.

After the peace accord that ushered in the Grand Coalition Government, a major sticking point was how to share powerful ministries, a key one being Internal Security, which is responsible for the police and state intelligence services. The immediate past police commissioner had the support of the PNU side of the coalition while the ODM side persistently demanded and eventually succeeded in having sidelined.

See [ LINK ] and [ LINK ].

References: Within government, there used to be the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission and the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights to handle such complaints. Now, these will also be handled by the Public Complaints Standing Committee, even if people continue going to the former, with which they might have developed some rapport. The security forces also have their own internal complaints and suggestion boxes, but these cannot deliver any radical decisions.

Outside the government, there are quite a number of civil society organizations that handle such complaints, including Kituo Cha Sheria and Kenya Human Rights Commission. The Kenya police has itself launched a community policing scheme, the credibility of which depends on the police ensuring the trust of the community.

References: The Public Complaints Standing Committee (PCSC) reports that the Kenya Police are the least responsive government agency with respect to complaints from the public directed through PCSC. Of the 489 complaints that had not been responded to within 90 days, 22 percent were over the conduct of the Kenya Police. (See PCSC's 'The Fourth Quarterly Report 2008/09...' ). However, it is difficult to gauge the speed and quality of responses the pubic gets over complaints taken to the Police directly. However, the Kenya Police have established an impressive website which holds some hope that reforms might improve service delivery. See [ LINK ].

References: Section 7 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act mandates the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) exclusively to investigate any matter or person that is thought to be involved in corruption. However, prosecution is handled by the Attorney General's office.

References: The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission's Act (KACC) mandate given by Section 7 provides for investigations into allegations of corruption by law enforcement officials. KACC, for example, investigated reports about bribery during the police recruitment exercise of 3,000 officers, which was subsequently canceled. Sixty senior officers managing the exercise were promptly suspended. The Kenya National Commission of Human Rights has also been very active in this respect. However, the police can often be quite difficult in accepting independent findings. See [ LINK ].

The Public Complaints Standing Committee also initiates investigations based on reports from members of the public.

References: Besides the president's constitutional protection under Section 14 from criminal and/or civil proceedings while in office, and the protection afforded diplomats under the Geneva Convention, no one else in Kenya is by law immune from prosecution.

References: Whether law enforcement officials are prosecuted or not depends on the nature of the alleged crime and the prevailing circumstances. The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) returns reveal many instances in which police officers have been prosecuted for criminal offenses such as corruption. Arising from the post-election violence of 2007/2008, a police officer continues to be on trial for killing an unarmed citizen (see [ LINK ]). Another officer who killed a female colleague and her member of Parliament lover has recently been jailed for 10 years. See [ LINK ].

However, other categories of serious crime by police officers go unpunished primarily because these involve the police investigating their colleagues. For example, suspects have been physically and sexually assaulted in police custody with impunity. There are many other police officers who killed during the post-election violence, but have never ever been arrested or charged.