Gachagua Promises Overhaul of KDF and Police Recruitment

Gachagua Promises Overhaul of KDF and Police Recruitment to Ensure Fairness for Nairobi Youth

Former deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, has promised to change the way the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and the National Police Service (NPS) recruit their personnel should he be elected as president.

In a campaign rally in Embaksi Central on Sunday, November 9, Gachagua alleged that the recruitment of uniformed officers had been mismanaged by past governments, especially in Nairobi County, where he stated the process has always been characterized by prejudice and favoritism. Gachagua says that the existing system is discriminatory against a larger number of eligible youth in the city, in that they have to be brought back home to their rural counties to join the recruitment exercises.

According to him, he sold the practice as ancient and discriminatory, and he would make it a thing of the past during his tenure.

Gachagua explained that in his government, recruitment into the police service and the military will be done at every sub-county.

We will no longer ask our youths to go back to their ancestral places to receive a just opportunity. All Kenyans, irrespective of their place of residence, will be allowed to compete for opportunities where they are at the moment. His comments are only a few months after a number of Nairobi Members of Parliament attacked the KDF recruiting process, claiming that it was discriminating against the residents of the capital. The MPs criticised the Ministry of Defence and the Interior Ministry on the grounds that it concentrated the venues of recruitment, which they said was against the ethos of fairness, equality, and accessibility.

The legislators claimed that the system was biased towards the youths in the rural regions and that the urban applicants, who usually have no jobs and are struggling to compete under the more demanding environment, were at a disadvantage.

They also observed that due to logistical issues and congestion at recruitment venues in the city, confusion, disorder, and in some cases corruption are common practices.

The Ministry of Defence had ordered applicants in the Embaksi Central, Embaksi East, Embaksi South, Embaksi West, Kamukunji, Makadara, and Starehe areas to report at Nyayo Stadium in a recruitment schedule published in September.

In the meantime, candidates in Kasarani, Ruaraka, Mathare, and Roysambu had to present themselves at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, whereas the candidates in Dagoretti North, Dagoretti South, Langata, Kibra, and Westlands were to report to Jamhuri ground. This grouping of thousands of hopefuls representing many constituencies in a few venues as opposed to sub-county in other counties, is how recruitment is done.

The MPs condemned the arrangement as unfair and not representative of the large and diverse population in Nairobi.

The legislators further maintained that the centralized system contravened Article 27 of the Constitution, which provides equal protection and the benefit of the law, and Article 10, which provides the national values, inclusive, equality, and good governance.

They claimed that not only did the consolidation of thousands of applicants into limited locations violate transparency, but it also created bottlenecks in logistics, which impaired the integrity and safety of the recruitment process.

The MPs insisted that the Ministry of Defence should review and increase the recruiting points immediately to cover all the 17 constituencies of Nairobi, with each sub-county having its own recruiting center. They also demanded affirmative action measures that would help disadvantaged city children who have the disadvantage of competing for the few employment spots in the city.

In similar sentiments, Gachagua stressed that Kenyan youths need a just opportunity to serve their country, irrespective of their background and the location they may be in.

He vowed that his government would emphasize merit, equality, and inclusivity in the appointment of officers into the KDF and the NPS. Our best asset as a country is the youth, he said.

We should provide them with equal access to serve and create a future that they will be proud of. We must not recruit into our security services a few to a privilege, but it should be a transparent process that can accommodate all qualified Kenyans.

The statements made by Gachagua have been extensively viewed as part of his overall campaign commitment to overhaul the state institutions and end corruption in recruitment in the state institutions.

His suggestion of localized recruitment is perceived as an attempt to gain the trust of the urban youth, which national employment initiatives usually do not pay much attention to.

  In its implementation, the policy would signify a significant change in Kenya on how it recruits uniformed service providers with inclusivity and equity in all parts of the country.