BONYO'S BONE: Graft - Take aim, miss!

Tonight, I pick a bone with the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja Kirocho. One year ago, Mr. Kanja Kirocho took office as Inspector General. He is the sixth Inspector General since the promulgation of the new Constitution and the 16th since Kenya gained independence.

Now, just days before marking his first anniversary in office, he was on national television and admitted what every Kenyan already knows — that police recruitment has been riddled with corruption for years.

But here’s the shocker: instead of fixing it, Mr Kanja and his officers are busy fighting to preserve a system shrouded in graft and devoid of public trust.

For weeks, they have fought a plan by the National Police Service Commission to introduce online recruitment of 10,000 new officers — a modern, transparent three-phase process involving online application, physical vetting, and medical checks. A plan that could cut the grease of bribery.

The exercise was to begin on September 11th, with recruits expected to be admitted for training in November. Yet Mr Kanja and his troops seem to be saying, “Over our dead bodies.” Their excuse? The commission lacks “technical expertise” to effectively handle the recruitment process.

But let’s call it as it is: the real expertise at stake here is not technology — it’s corruption. The same corruption that has turned police recruitment into a cash-and-carry business.

Every year, thousands of young Kenyans show up with hope, only to be dismissed with flimsy excuses while those with money buy their way in, comfortably seated at the sidelines of dusty stadiums.

Parents and guardians sell their only earthly possessions to secure places for their kin, because that is the only known route to police service.

Mr Kanja, you admitted the rot. But admission is not leadership. Solutions are. Kenyans want to know: what steps are you taking to clean this mess?

Because without action, your words are nothing but an alibi to protect a gravy train that has robbed young Kenyans of opportunity, dignity, and faith in Utumishi Kwa Wote.

The ball is in your court, Mr Kanja. And if you can’t restore integrity to this process, then perhaps it is not the recruits who should be sent home — it is you.