Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo is in charge of both the Administration and regular police forces in Kenya. Photo/ FILE
NAIROBI Kenya, Aug 15 – The Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo says they require up to 10,000 vehicles to be distributed across the country for patrols and emergency response.
Kimaiyo said more than 200 police stations across the country do not have vehicles, while many more are insufficiently equipped.
The police boss, who spoke at a retreat for the parliamentary committee on administration and national security in Mombasa urged the government to urgently resolve the issue to enable them restore security in the country.
“The National Police service is critically challenged when it comes to transport facilitation,” he said, stressing that the Sh67 billion allocated to purchase various equipment – including vehicles – in this financial year was not enough to address the immediate needs.
“We had requested the government to allocate Sh120 billion in this financial period to effectively equip the police, what we were offered is not enough,” he complained.
He said apart from the shortage of vehicles, adequate housing for the growing number of police officers still remains a challenge that currently stands at 40,000 housing units.
With 15,000 new police recruits employed every year, the Inspector General raised concerns over how these will be housed. Kimaiyo said the police unit must be equipped by allocating it enough funds that will also cater for their remuneration.
He also observed that the latest statistics indicates that a total of 680,000 illegal firearms are still in the hands of civilians that must be mopped out.
“We need funds to adequately repossess these arms that are used to commit crimes in various parts of the country, we cannot allow criminal elements to terrorize innocent Kenyans,” he said.
About The Author
