NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 14 — Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was Thursday leading officers from the National Police Service and Kenya Prisons Service in the annual Joint Commemorative Service honoring officers killed in the line of duty.
The ceremony, also graced by the Inspector General National Police Service, Japhet Koome, and families of the fallen heroes, was held at the National Police College ‘A’ Campus Embakasi, Nairobi.
During the event which celebrates police and prison officers who laid their lives while executing their mandate, wreaths were laid at the monument with the names of the fallen heroes and heroines.
Data released in December 2022 indicated that 54 police officers and four prisons officers had died on duty since November 2021.
Kindiki announced the roll out of the Benevolent Fund in 2022 for police and prisons officers who die in the line of duty to enhance the benefits left behind to families and dependents.
He Kindiki said the Benevolent Fund will be disbursed on an ex-gratia basis will build on life insurance, death gratuity, last expense payment, and injury compensation.
“The Benevolent Fund will raise money to support families that are left behind in terms of accessing modest scholarships for the children, and medical attention for those who are left behind as dependents, and other forms of emergencies in education, health,” he said on December 15, 2022.
Kindiki directed the relevant Ministry departments to urgently convene a core team to draw the framework for establishing and administering the Fund.
Solid framework
The Interior CS said the Fund and its operational framework will be entrenched through recommendations made under the report of the presidential task force set up to review the terms and conditions of service for police and prisons officers.
“That report will include how that fund will operate, the governance structure so that we help in mobilizing resources from the government and elsewhere from among our partners,” he added.
The CS further said the Government will progressively increase the amounts payable as benefits to the surviving families of the fallen officers and will expedite the processing of outstanding claims.
“We will ensure that all the relevant dues and settlements including payments for the last expense, gratuity and pension where applicable are processed and released immediately,” he said.
