Kenya to recruit 10,000 policemen ahead of August 8 polls

Kenya’s National Police Service has opened applications to recruit 10,000 more people ahead of the general elections on August 8, 2017.

Selection of the recruits will be done on May 11 and induction will be done after a nine-month training, the police service announced.

“Applicants recruited for the training into the service shall be bonded to serve in the National Police Service for a minimum of ten years,” Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said in a statement published by local media.

Some of the recruits are likely to be deployed to cover the general elections, Standard Media newspaper reported.

Kenya has over 90,000 police personnel against the over 44 million population leaving the ratio at 1:448.

Party primaries this month turned chaotic with violent clashes, cancellation of results and claims of rigging.

On Tuesday, the police dispersed hundreds of protesters in the west of the country who were angered by the results of a primary that re-elected the incumbent governor of the Homa Bay county, Cyprian Awiti, to run for the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in August.

The police needs the numbers to be able to contain any violence during the general elections in four months.

Voters will pick a president, parliament and local authorities, a decade after 1,200 people were killed in ethnic violence following a disputed presidential election.