Government to Reduce Levels of VIP Protection by 50%

Interior Cabinet Fred Matiang'i on Tuesday announced that the government would reduce the levels of VIP protection in a bid to improve the ratio of security personnel to all Kenyans.

Speaking at the Kenya School of Government the CS stated: "Government to reduce the levels of VIP protection by 50% by July this year so that the officers can be deployed to protect life and property of ordinary citizens."

Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the spokesman for the Ministry Mwenda Njoka noted that the recommended police civilian population ratio by the UN was 1:450 while Kenya's was at 1:440.

He further explained that the reduction in security would cut across the various VIPs to improve security for civilians.

[caption caption="VIP security detail"][/caption]

"Some areas in the country are not policed or they have minimum security. This directive aims to correct that by improving the ratio of officers per Kenyan citizens.

"The reduction in the level of protection will occur in both the County and national level," he stated.

In 2017, Kenya’s police force was estimated to have a total of 109,000 officers. Out of these, VIPs had up to 12,000 assigned to them as bodyguards, cooks and messengers.

The tallies were a source of public outrage at the time as a majority of the population was left exposed to criminals.

"Some 13,000 are in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), 9,000 in the General Service Unit, 2,000 in the Anti-Stock Theft Unit and more than 4,000 in Administration Police guard vital installations. Others are deployed to escort cash from one place to another.

"About 4,000 help traffic movement across the country and hunt for drunken, careless and unlicensed drivers. This leaves less than 55,000 officers to take care of more than 40 million Kenyans. The majority of these officers are senior hence not involved in rigorous activities like foot patrols" read an article on the Standard.

Among the most protected VIPs in the country are President Uhuru Kenyatta with 200 and DP William Ruto (45). 

Senior government officials also have a high number of officers in their security detail.

[caption caption="Police during a passout parade"][/caption]

Prior to his death, former CS the late Joseph Nkaissery announced that scaling down the number of officers attached to VIPs to allow them to perform other duties.

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