Police recruitment: Why low KCSE grades translate to poor service

John Harun Mwau went to court and challenged the much-hyped 2025 police recruitment drive. The Environment, Labour and Employment Court paid enough attention to the petition and issued orders temporarily cancelling the exercise. 

Like never before, the National Police Service Commission had aggressively advertised the recruitment drive targeting to hire a record 10,000 constables. Ten thousand in one fell swoop. The Cabinet Secretary in charge of Security, the Inspector General, the PS and others told Kenyans that the exercise would be fair and transparent, their assurance drawing yawns across the country.

Well, the 10,000 young men and women were recruited last week and reported to police training colleges yesterday.

But for a government that cares about protection of lives and property of her citizens, the basic qualifications for recruitment into the National Police Service (NPS) are laughable. When you entrust the security of a nation with fellows who scored the lowest KCSE grades in school, you must expect the lowest grade of service. Garbage in, garbage out.

For the longest time, the Kenya Police Service has maintained the unenviable position of the most corrupt government department. The police have earned and maintained this award for decades, without police intimidation, police harassment or firing a single bullet.

Whenever recruitment into Kenya Police is at hand, scoundrels in the top echelons of NPS start salivating. They work in concert with civilian agents whose brief is to identify and lure parents of prospective recruits to pay huge sums for their children to join the service. Politicians cannot miss this gravy-train. Crooks take advantage of the rampant bribery to run scams, charging job seekers money for non-existent positions or fake job offer letters.

The players know their game. They start early; usually months before the recruitment is announced. This is to give prospective victims enough time to sell their land.

The “agent” swears their victim to secrecy but actually hopes the victim will tell his wife, cousin, pastor, local shopkeeper, boda boda, school teacher etc, so that many more people approach him for ‘assistance’.

Kenyans know individuals who were swindled in the guise of recruitment into the Service. And hundreds who successfully bribed their way into the service.

Although bribery is a way of life across all sectors in Kenya, recruitment in the security services stinks. Each department has a known price tag.

Recently, presidential hopeful David Maraga told Kenyans that Sh600,000 is the going price for recruitment into KDF. This price compares favourably with the minimum required for enlistment in NPS, a non-negotiable Sh600,000. Last time I checked, Sh550,000 was the agreed minimum for Kenya Prison Service. At Kenya Wildlife Service, Sh500,000 is the Recommended Retail Price (bei ya jioni).

When positions are sold to the highest bidder rather than the highest qualified, the cost is borne by society in many ways. An unqualified officer who joined the service through corruption will himself be irredeemably corrupt and not an effective deterrent to crime. A service that is a product of bribery creates a service of unequal opportunity. It benefits the well-connected at the expense of those who cannot bribe their way into jobs and promotion. Repeated scandals during recruitment cause institutional fatigue where reform efforts lose credibility and public support.

It promotes a culture of impunity and mediocrity and makes officers accountable, not to the public but to their godfathers. It becomes self-perpetuating and certainly leads to further abuses, with officers later engaging in bribery as a matter of course and other criminal conduct to recoup their initial investment. It deters talented individuals from joining the service. 

Last year, I saw one afande at a recruitment centre shouting at prospective recruits, “Nani anajua ku-march?” (Who knows how to march?). Hundreds eagerly shot forward. He made them match around the field once, then led them towards the gate. As soon as the last had marched through, he shouted, “Sisi hatutaki watu wanajua ku-march” (We don’t want people who know how to march). And he shut the gate.

Kenyans are indeed a lazy lot. The current low qualifications for recruitment in police service were set by the colonialists. They prioritised height, chest, running skills and stamina with a good reason. Native policemen were meant to out-run criminals, beat them silly and subdue them. The business of detecting, investigating and prosecuting suspects was reserved for white officers because Africans did not possess the requisite qualifications then. But 60 years after independence, we still think a D+ holder will be an effective crime buster.

How do we trust someone to deal with the current sophisticated criminal trends just because they are physically fit? Multi-faceted criminal activities involving complex money laundering schemes across continents call for equally sophisticated personnel to respond accordingly. Cyber crime committed by techno-survy characters, involving intricate planning, with multiple individuals cannot be cracked by a person who could not comprehend nature study at school.

Does the tallest policeman have any advantage in detecting and investigating terrorism? With sophisticated investment fraud like ponzi schemes on the rise, how does a cop with the speed of Ferdinand Omanyala help in investigation? The crime of counterfeiting is unlikely to be solved by every policeman with the right policeman weight and a corresponding chest.

Kenyans long lost faith in the police. It is why they hardly cooperate with law enforcement because where crime is concerned, Kenyans feel they are often on their own. They make reports to a police station as a last resort, not as the first port of call when in trouble. The joke in the streets, which the government should not joke with, is that Kenyans would rather encounter a common thug at night than be confronted by a police officer. 

In environments with pervasive police corruption, communities seek alternative, non-state security or actively support anti-government groups that promise to fight corruption. Haiti comes to mind.