Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has issued a tough warning to anyone plotting to bribe their way into Monday’s nationwide police recruitment, vowing that all offenders will be arrested and prosecuted.
Speaking on Sunday during a church service at St. Luke Methodist Church in Kariene, Imenti Central, Murkomen urged officers overseeing the exercise to uphold integrity and select only qualified candidates.
He insisted that the government has put in place strict transparency measures for the November 17 recruitment.
“We demand transparency and accountability. Those who are carrying money when people go to run so that they can bribe, we want to tell you that we will arrest you and jail you,’ Murkomen said.
The CS emphasized the role of local communities in safeguarding the credibility of the exercise, noting that public vigilance is essential in eliminating corruption.
He added that the government has deployed adequate intelligence officers to monitor the recruitment, which aims to enlist 10,000 new police officers across the country.
Murkomen acknowledged an acute shortage of security personnel, attributing it to a four-year recruitment gap.
“We know there is shortage of police officers in many police stations because we have not recruited for the last four years. We want to improve security in our country by employing more officers,” he said.
The CS maintained that his ministry will not allow desperate job seekers to be exploited by corrupt officers.
He also issued a stern warning to bandits in possession of illegal firearms, urging them to surrender immediately or face the full force of the law.
“We are warning those in possession of illegal firearms whether they come from Samburu, Turkana, Isiolo or Meru to surrender before we mercilessly go for them,”He noted.
Murkomen at the same time noted that illegal guns continue to fuel cattle rustling in pastoral regions, adding that a specially trained security unit has already been deployed to dismantle bandit networks.
‘We have trained a special security team to deal with bandits. We are going for them from the source I am telling them their days are numbered we cannot allow them to continue to create security threats in the country,’ said the CS.
He further revealed that more officers will be deployed to bandit-prone areas and equipped with modern gear and vehicles to curb rising insecurity.
