President William Ruto is under pressure from the National Police Service (NPS) to revoke his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta's directive on police choppers.
Police bosses want to regain control of their choppers, a mandate which Uhuru transferred to the National Air Support Department (NASD) under Kenya Air Force.
On Thursday, February 2, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) informed the former Chief Justice David Maraga-led taskforce that they were not receiving enough services since the choppers and planes were transferred to the military.
Besides revoking the directive, which granted Kenya Air Force full mandate, police also demanded to be given back all aviation equipment previously allocated to them.
Cops also demanded to be granted autonomy to procure choppers and planes.
"Return the Police Air Equipment and the procurement and maintenance budget to the National Police Service," the police bosses insisted.
"Equip the Marine Police Unit in Kilindini, Lamu, Lake Baringo, Kisumu, Port Victoria, with the relevant equipment and personnel including speed boats, coxswains, divers, boat engineers," they added.
At the same time, cops lamented that the directive had rendered over 50 trained police pilots jobless.
The prison service also claimed that it lacks planes for emergency operations despite having qualified personnel, some of whom were seconded to the Police Air Wing.
During the engagement forum, it was heard that the one chopper was repaired and assigned to the office of the Deputy President.
The new demands came just two years after Uhuru issued an Executive Order which required that crews in all government aircraft report to the Kenya Air Force Commander.
"The National Air Support Department is a multi-agency approach to service delivery that we, as a government have adopted," Uhuru stated while inaugurating NASD in December 2020.
"This reform initiative was necessitated by the compelling need to foster effectiveness in the management of the national aviation assets; with a view to optimise on safety, efficiency and improved availability of aircraft," he added.
