Court stops repeat police recruitment at a centre in Kakamega

A High Court judge has temporarily stopped a repeat police recruitment that was to take place at Isanjiro Primary School in Malava, Kakamega County, on Monday.

Mr Justice Anthony Kaniaru, sitting in Kisumu, ordered on Wednesday afternoon that the process be halted until a case filed by 27 people who had succeeded in the first recruitment round is determined.

The recruits’ lawyer, Innocent Ondieki, told the court that the National Police Service Commission did not give them audience before declaring that the recruitment was marred by irregularities.

He said that his clients were successful in the drive organised on July 14 at the primary school that is in Malava, in northern Kakamega.

'IMPLAUSIBLE' REASONS

“They got their appointment letters and were to report to various police training colleges on September 5.

"However, the chairman of the National Police Service Commission cancelled the applicants’ enlisting to the national police service without according them the right to be heard on allegations of rampant corruption at the recruitment centre,” said Mr Ondieki.

The lawyer added that the commission had announced via radio that the recruitment would be repeated on September 1, which would negatively affect his clients because the reasons given were “neither plausible nor tangible”.

Justice Kaniaru ordered that the recruits file their case challenging the commission’s decision within 21 days.

SENATORS SUED

In the same court, an advocate who has sued all the 47 senators for passing a law that put them in control of County Development Boards was ordered to transfer his case from Bungoma to Nairobi.

Mr Barasa Kundu has filed a constitutional petition alongside two human rights activists, Mr Albert Simiyu and Mr Philip Wanyonyi, saying the Senate made an illegal amendment to the Constitution by passing the law.

He has also listed the Speakers of the Senate and National Assembly and the Attorney-General as the respondents. He argues that Attorney-General Githu Muigai misadvised the President to assent to the amendment.

Justice Kaniaru directed that it would be in the interest of the case to have it handled in Nairobi.

Source: Daily Nation Kenya