Judge certifies as urgent IG's case on police recruitment

The High Court on Thursday certified as urgent an application by Inspector General of Police (IG) Douglas Kanja seeking to lift orders suspending recruitment of 10,000 new police officers.

Justice Bahati Mwamuye directed that Kanja’s application be heard on November 17 at 9am, the day the recruitment was planned to start. 

The judges also ordered Kanja to serve activist Eliud Matindi, National Police Service Commission (NPSC), the Attorney General and the Nation police Service (NPS) with the application by close of business on Thursday. 

The direction comes as Kanja, through State Counsel Marwa Christopher, argued in court that the continued suspension of the recruitment poses a grave threat to national security, citing a critical shortage of police officers and the need to bolster security ahead of the 2027 General Election.

“It is in the public interest that the orders issued by the High Court on November 10, 2025, be set aside immediately to allow the National Police Service to proceed with the nationwide recruitment drive scheduled for next week,” Marwa stated.

The conservatory orders issued by Justice Mwamuye on November 10 barred the IG, NPSC, the AG, and related parties from conducting or facilitating the recruitment, pending the hearing of a petition filed by Matindi.

In his suit papers, Kanja warned that delays in recruitment would deny NPS adequate time to train and deploy officers ahead of the 2027 elections. 

“Elections in this country come with heavy security challenges, which require adequate police officers to manage,” the IG said.

The recruitment was intended to bring in thousands of new officers but was stopped following Matindi’s petition challenging the legality of the process.

 Matindi argued that the IG lacks constitutional or statutory authority to independently conduct recruitment, a mandate reserved for the NPSC under Section 10(2) of the National Police Service Commission Act.