Transparency In Joint Police Recruitment? Really?

Unlike the usual shrouded-in-darkness security agencies' recruitment, the last KWS Rangers recruitment exercise was a pacesetter in that for the first time they invited members of the public, Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and NGOs to witness the recruitment and ensure transparency and fairness. 

The rather bold and out-of-the-box method was resorted to after the fiasco of a previous recruitment that not only cost Director Mukolwe's job but also his reputation after influence-peddling government officials interfered with demands for guaranteed slots. So his successor, the superstar CEO Kipngetich decided to be transparent and  fair in the recruitment, obviously driven by a desire to keep the politicians out of the exercise and also chart a new path in line with his pacesetting techniques.

This new mode of recruitment was so endearing that even Kenya Airports Authority who were recruiting security staff decided to conduct theirs jointly with KWS. It all went well. 

It seems that the oft-maligned Kenya Police has also joined the transparency bandwagon and with a new and improved twist. They will recruit 7000 potential police officers in all 286 districts simultaneously and with results known on the same day too. The sibling rivalry between regular Police and Administration Police seems to have been set aside so as to conduct the interview jointly. 

The applicants will be applying in writing before the physical examination and fitness tests. Recruits will be asked what their choice force is and admitted to a 15 month training course accordingly.

In what seems to be advance implementation of the Police reforms, trainees will be allowed internship before formal recruitment to gauge suitability. One of the key recommendations of the Naikuni-led reforms committee, is a halt to the outright recruitment of  any and every person who completes a 6-month training in Kiganjo or Embakasi which is seen as a cause of the many obviously unsuitable and unstable police officers that litter the force and are evidenced by the rising suicide cases and gun-accidents usually involving a disgruntled junior shooting a senior.

It will be interesting to see if all 286 centres will be true to the national brief and keep away from temptations that recruits will bring to the exercises. I am also curious to see what tricks the Kamiti inmates known to send thousands of enticing text messages "offering" positions to a gullible Kenyan public hungry for employment opportunities for a small "fee" will come up with! Twenty four hours may prove too short for them to swindle enough people.

Its interesting that the Police Force have adopted the recruitment mode from a man touted to be the likely  next Inspector-General of Police! Makes for good cocktail small talk. 

I am sure some of the recruitment drama will be served to you on the Friday night TV satirical servings of Newshot, Flipside and Bullseye. 

Prof. Nyon'go You Should Not Whine- Do Something About Cancer Treatment

I have had this post marinating in my mind for a while now. In fact I have been seething for a while. The reason I have been seething with anger is because of one Prof. Peter Anya'ng Nyong'o (herewith referred as PPAN). This state has been going on since the good Professor returned home after his successful treatment in San Francisco. 


When the news of his sickness was broken through his Sunday column in the Standard, I sympathized with the good Professor, first as a fellow human being, next as a fellow man (in the over-40 years bracket and a likely candidate of prostrate cancer), thirdly based on the 6 degrees of separation theory, I know his wife from my professional fraternity for which she held leadership positions and always delivered hubby when we needed a senior government minister to grace our functions and give them some semblance of stately seriousness! Finally, I  like Prof. Peter Anya'ng Nyong'o  as one of the sober politician we have and who can take the debate from the gutters to intellectual levels if and when he is not defending his party.


So back to my seething, I have nothing against his return or his healing at all. What I have a problem is the statements he made after his return. He got a lot of press and even some ripple-effect coverage on status of cancer treatment and facilities in Kenya followed in his wake. 


Whereas as a recovering patient, he had every right to celebrate overcoming cancer, I begrudge the fact that he mixed his different roles in the process. As a leader, as a highly educated opinion leader in our society, as an MP sitting in parliament and with powers to make private or state-sponsored and appropriate legislation and as a Minister in-charge of Medical Services, in my humble opinion, I think he made some very unfortunate statements. He came out badly due to his fascination with facilities in Western World, he made unsavory statements about the qualifications of Kenyan Doctors. Was it the doctors in San Francisco who diagnosed his disease or the same Kenyan doctors he went all over the media giving a bad name? 


I do not mind a mwananchi who gets a raw deal in local hospitals using the media to get attention and creating awareness or whining; but the Minister in charge of all doctors? The man we have entrusted to change policy and its implementation thereafter? Talking to us like he expects someone else to come around and change things? He had the audacity of getting verbose about the state-of-art equipment available in the US. He event further and said that there are possibilities of the manufacturers of such equipment leasing them to government.  Of course in between he brought other issues like the proposed universal medical insurance for all citizens. 


Sample a quote below of the Minister in one of the media interviews and tell me if this is not the all-familiar whining we all hear from the hoi polloi saying, "naiomba serikali...."; 

"The Government should make it a mandatory health requirement for men over 45 to have their PSA levels tested regularly so that the disease can be caught early.

Second, we require nurses, clinical officers and urologists who can diagnose prostate cancer and advise on proper treatment. Proper diagnostic equipment is also a must.

At the moment, these are extremely few, and very often diagnosing prostate cancer is done mainly at our national referral facilities, provincial government hospitals and private hospitals."

I will be forever upset with PPAN if out of his personal experience, he does not act and make some tangible changes during his tenure in Afya House and as an MP. I think PPAN should play some major part in replicating a smaller version of Mount Zion Medical Centre here in Kenya. After all if the Minister, a cancer survivor, a senior member of the society cannot do it, who will?


 Professor, I am watching you. Do not let me down.  

Concerns About Cost of Living

After a few weeks of the Ocampo 6 circus, the country has suddenly been jolted back to the realities that face more than 50% of the population who live in abject poverty. With riots already happening in Uganda and Burkina Faso due to high living costs, it was just a matter of time before someone tapped the government and media out of the hypnosis induced by the highly entertaining Ocampo 6 circus.

A friend of mine has a tendency of asking for a rationale for any information you share with him. When you learn some new fact, he wants to know what value does it have to the immediate cause? He says 90% of the information that we share in a day may be interesting, but of zero value to our lives.

In the same breath, I have taken the same view and measure to most of the shenanigans that we are subjected to by our leaders/politicians. So how will Kenya change or improve if we sing patriotic songs off key in Amsterdam? Is the scarcity of maize seeds and fertilizer that is the concern of hundreds of thousands of farmers solved? Nah! How will the hundreds of poor Kenyans living in camps change? I now pay attention to news or commentaries that offer solutions. Political brinkmanship should not be allowed a national platform, especially when the expected outcome is just political careers of three or four Kenyans.

The national platform should only be given to issues that affect the masses and it was heartening to suddenly see on evening news stories on living costs and unemployment that is a concern for many. So what should we expect from our government?

Rations for the very poor? Subsidies? Government issue unga? I am waiting for the evening news to see how we propose to handle this one.