Kenya’s IG Joseph Boinnet will handover the powerful docket after successfully completing his constitutional four-year term.
He was appointed on December 31, 2014 following the resignation of David Kimaiyo the same month. President Uhuru then appointed Kimaiyo as the chairman of the Kenya Airports Authority.
The IG will be remembered for spearheading the changes in the police service including the introduction of house allowances for the close to 150,000 police officers. He also introduced new Uniforms.
His plans to introduce a new training curriculum for police officers has however been vetoed by fellow commissioners of the NPSC.
Some of the far-reaching changes being undertaken by the service include merger of the Administration Police with their Kenya Police counterparts.Under the radical changes introduced by Boinnet, both the AP and the Kenya Police are now under a single command structure to boost response and harmonise operations.
Under Boinnet, the two units were brought together and named General Service Officers.
This meant that the AP officers, who used to be at the national administration officers, were reassigned and deployed to police stations across the country.
In bridging the gaps within the security sector, Boinnet embarked on the process of establishing new command structures at the grassroots.
Under these reforms, each of the country’s 290 constituencies or sub-counties was named a polices division under the command of the sub-county police commander.
This was a radical shift from the hitherto divisions that were under Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPDs).
In further boosting the command level at the grassroots, all chiefs camps that initially were manned by APs were converted into police posts.
Each of the country’s wards was given a police station and put under the command of the ward police commander, replacing the former officer commanding police stations (OCS).
In his last day in office, the police boss is expected to meet the incoming commissioners of the National Police Service Commission.
The commissioners who will be sworn into office today will be critical in the recruitment of Boinnet’s successor.
After taking the oath of office, the commissioners will hold its first meeting and pick a candidate to hold the office of the IG in an acting capacity.
Insiders familiar with the government plans say swearing-in ceremony of the new commissioners had been scheduled for today.
It is expected that the commission, as has been the tradition, will appoint either of the two deputies Noor Gabow or Edward Mbugua in acting capacity as the search for the next IG begins.
Kimayo, who was Kenya’s first IG under the new Constitution, was selected by the National Police Service Commission while Boinnet was picked by the President.
This is after the law was changed to give the president the power to pick one person as the IG from a list submitted to him by NPSC. The commission is supposed to advertise, interview and zero in on three names. The president is required to hand his choice to Parliament for ratification.
All the best Joseph Boinett in your future endeavors.