Police Spokesperson Resila Onyango has refuted claims that the National Police Service (NPS) is recruiting officers who had earlier been fired for misconduct.
In a message sent to Kenyans.co.ke on Thursday, Onyango responded to a text message shared widely, especially on WhatsApp, that claimed to be inviting the affected officers for rehire.
The text message claimed the recruitment was scheduled to take place at Ruaraka's General Service Unit (GSU) headquarters on Friday.
"If you know any police officer alifutwa kazi (who was fired) or deserted and is willing kurudi kazi, afike Ruaraka kesho (to return to work, let them head to Ruaraka tomorrow). Treat (this message) as urgent if Willing [sic]," read the message laden with grammatical errors.
In response, Onyango confirmed that the statement was fake and did not originate from NPS.
Of note, when the police service undertakes a recruitment exercise, it must advertise through legitimate channels and often shares the advertisements on its verified social media channels.
Cases of police officers being interdicted have been high since 2015 when 63 officers were fired by the Kenyan National Police Service Commission (NPSC) over corruption allegations.
In 2016, the commission fired a further 127 traffic officers accused of corruption after completing a vetting process.
“Out of the 127, 36 are from Coast, 23 from Western, 50 from Rift Valley and 18 from Nyanza,” the Commission's then Chairperson Johnston Kavuludi stated at the time.
In 2020, a further six officers were sent packing and arraigned in court to face various offences after a probe by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
The investigations followed a surge in shootings that left innocent civilians dead or injured.
During demonstrations by Azimio la Umoja at the beginning of 2023, Kenyan citizens lamented that the police were using excessive force and demanded action against the culprits.
