Police Recruitment Grade: It has always puzzled Kenyans why the Kenya Police always prefer to recruit mainly form four leavers with a mean grade of D. Well, the reason behind this was revealed by former Kenya Police Service spokesperson turned politician Charles Owino weeks before he was transferred from this docket.
Owino said that the service will continue to give preference to form four leavers who score grade D+ as opposed to those who score the superior grade of C+ and above.
According to Mr. Owino, recruits who join the force with the grade of D are more likely to exhibit loyalty to the service.
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He added that apart from grades, the service is keener on the recruits’ level of intelligence, which recruits who scored poorly in KCSE can muster.
“We have a challenge when we employ every policeman with grade C+ and above…they go back to school, they get their degrees, they come back and tell you ‘now we don’t want to serve at this level.’ For every 9 police officers, we may only have one corporal and one inspector…so you cannot promote everyone to those levels,” he explained.
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“We get officers at direct entry inspectorate, then let’s also get officers who have C plain, C-, D+…people who will work at those levels for a longer period of time, they’ll become corporals, sergeants…because we need all these levels.”
Owino further added: “What is important in recruiting a policeman (is that) you just need an intelligent person, and intelligence is not merely meted on the grade you got…Yes, it’s an assumption, but I can tell you we’ve had people from disadvantaged areas like North Eastern but they’ve done a very good job. There’s a lot that it involves, it’s not just high grades only. You come in with good education, you pocket and don’t do your work, it’s not your education that will do your work, you must be practical, and you must earn your promotions fairly.”
These sentiments have now been echoed by the National Police Service Commission (NPSC). The commission says it had learnt from past mistakes where enlisting university graduates landed them in a pay dispute.
During a March 2022 pre-recruitment sensitisation session in Kabarnet on Monday, NPSC official John ole Moyaki said the latest hiring drive targets non-degree holders.
“In the advert placed in various media platforms, we have indicated that we are recruiting police constables with a minimum qualification of D+ in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education [KCSE] exam and it remains as such because there is a particular job group for the advertised positions. We are advising those with degrees to wait for other positions to avoid labour issues,” said commissioner Moyaki.
“We are not discouraging graduates from joining the police service, but there are better opportunities and higher job groups that would suit them, apart from the police. It would be ideal for potential recruits to adhere to the requirements set out in our advertisement,” he stated.
