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NYERI
A task force on police reforms on Wednesday decried the deplorable state of the officers’ housing.
The committee on housing, welfare and stalled police projects came face to face with leaking roofs, curtain partitions and wooden houses, whose walls are rotting, in Nyeri.
At Kiawara Police Station, near former President Mwai Kibaki’s home, officers said their efforts to provide security had been hit by poor living conditions and lack of equipment.
Nation reporters found the officers sharing small wooden houses with gaping holes filled with old newspapers.
The floors are not cemented and to fight dust, the officers sprinkle water in the morning, afternoon and evening.
“If public health officers visited us, they would find that we live in condemned houses. It is just by God’s mercy that we have not contracted communicable diseases,” said an officer, who did not want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the Media.
NO ELECTRICITY SUPPLY
The station is plunged into darkness at night because it does have electricity and its small solar panels die after some hours.
At Mweiga Police Station, rain water leaks into the Officer Commanding Station’s office, the Reports Office and the Traffic Office.
“We have only one vehicle, which is used by Kiawara and Mweiga police stations. If more than one incident happened at ago, we would be incapacitated,” said an officer at the station.
Director of Planning, Research and Development at the National Police Service Silas Mc’Opiyo pledged to address the officers’ plight and urged them to be patient.
He said the government had an elaborate plan to improve their housing, general welfare, logistics, paralegal documents and transport.
“These officers come from different cultures. Some may prefer some quiet after work but if their roommates play loud music they affect their colleagues who might be unable to deliver,” he said.
He noted that conditions could be unbearable, where a married officer is forced to share a room with a single one.
The government recently released 1,000 vehicles to the service and the director noted that Deputy President William Ruto’s declaration that the officers would earn higher salaries this month had uplifted their morale at work.
The committee has visited the former Eastern, North Eastern, Coast, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western provinces collecting views from the officers on the improvements they would like to see.
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