The search for the person who will succeed Johnstone Kavuludi as the chairman of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) enters the homestretch tomorrow as 10 candidates are expected to attend interviews in Nairobi.
Former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende is among the 10 whose grilling has been slated for tomorrow, with four more expected to appear before the panel on Tuesday.
Others are former Transition Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi, former International Criminal Court Judge Joyce Aluoch, Dr Zachary Mwangi, Elijah Kodoh, Peter ole Nkuraiyia and Mukhtar Abdi.
The interviewing panel was gazetted by President Uhuru Kenyatta in November 2018 and comprises, among others, Kennedy Kihara who represents the Cabinet, Mr Stephen Kirogo from the Public Service Commission, Ms Anne Amadi from the Judiciary, Ms Kagwiria Mbogori from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and Ms Joyce Mwikali from the National Gender and Equality Commission.
The 10, who will be vetted for the chair’s post, were considered the most suitable of the 59 who had applied after the position was advertised in December.
NPSC, which was created by the 2010 constitution, is the custodian of the human resource function of the police, which makes it pivotal in law enforcement.
Were it not for a 2014 move by Parliament to amend the law that created NPSC, the commission would also be the one hiring the Inspector-General of Police and his/her two deputies.
But after the enactment of the National Police Act and the National Police Service Act in controversial circumstances, NPSC lost that mandate, and the President now has a central role in hiring the person to be in-charge of police.