Why Matiang’i Has Withheld March Salaries For Some Police Officers

At least 1,000 police officers will not get their salaries this month because their data was not captured in an exercise aimed at fully automating the human resource management system.

The exercise, which took place on February 7 to March 11, is aimed at saving the government millions of shillings after it revealed that some officers, who had left the service, were still earning salaries and allowances.

Officers affected have been visiting Jogoo House and Vigilance House since Wednesday to present their information.

Though most of them are junior officers, a Commissioner of Police and a Senior Superintendent of Police were among those who had submitted their names.

Effectively, those missing will have to wait a little longer until the human resource management system is fully updated.

“A good number of officers, almost 1,000, have missed their March salary since the report shows the total service workforce is 101,288 whereas some were not captured,” revealed a senior officer.

Last week, Interior Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta the report that indicated that the country had 101,288 police officers. They are the only ones who will get their salaries.

The system features each police officer’s biometric data, certificate of appointment, national identity card details, KRA PIN, family background, academic qualifications, rank, and service history among other details.

However, it is now emerging that the report presented by Matiang’i and outgoing Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet may not have been accurate.

It is titled ‘A Report on the Implementation of the new National Police Service Information Management System’.

The exercise, which was conducted across the country, is expected to eliminate fraud associated with manual staff records.

It is also expected to facilitate the selection, recruitment, management of police officers and foster fair performance appraisals, transparent deployment and transfers, and merit-based promotions.

The report showed that many officers who were working in hardship areas were not getting allowances. Others were found to be earning more house allowances than is required.

Last September, Uhuru directed that officers be paid house allowances and the leasing programme for houses, that cost taxpayers Sh3 billion annually, be terminated.

The report also revealed that some officers, especially in the hardship areas, were found to have overstayed in their stations.

Concerns were also raised when some officers were found not to be having their staff IDs, commonly referred to as Certificate of Appointment. Some claimed to have lost theirs while other could not offer explanations.

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