CS Fred Matiang'i Faces Opposition From MPs

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i on Tuesday faced opposition from Members of Parliament as he presented his Ministry's budget proposals.

The CS's plan to hire 20,000 new police officers was questioned when he presented it to the lawmakers. 

National Assembly's Security and National Administration Committee criticized Matiang'i's budgetary request for Sh 4 Billion intended for the recruitment of the new officers.

[caption caption="File image police officers"][/caption]

The ministry had previously indicated that Kenya has surpassed the United Nation's target of one officer to 450 civilians. 

“If it is true that at the moment our ratio stands at 1:400. It means that you do not need to recruit more officers, we could re-allocate the Sh4 billion that you have factored for this,” noted Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu.

However, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet defended the proposal stating that the recruitment was largely to replace police officers who had either died in the line of duty or left the service.

Interior Ministry expressed their disappointment after The National Treasury had slashed the Sh 192.31 billion budget to Sh 130.87 billion in the 2018/2019 financial year.

According to Matiang'i, key priorities of the ministry include recruitment of 20,000 new officers, acquisition of 20,000 housing units for the officers, expansion of eight training schools, putting up of 54 offices for national government administration officers, and acquisition of modern printing equipment.

The National Police Service Commission (NPSC) also protested that its key programmes risked being hampered unless the Sh552 million allocated to it was enhanced.

“NPSC has a practical budget and what was allocated by the Treasury is not practical. It will make our work very difficult,” the commission chairman, Johnson Kavuludi, explained.

[caption caption="File image of CS Fred Matiang'i and IG Joseph Boinnet"][/caption]

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