Kidero to phase out city askaris

The Nairobi County Government plans to recruit friendly security officers to replace the notorious city askaris who are will be retired soon.

Some 650 new officers, including fire fighters, will be expected to take charge of security operations in the county. County Secretary Robert Ayisi revealed that Governor Evans Kidero had embarked on the process of re-branding the city inspectorate.



He said the governor was finalising a Memorandum of Understanding between the Police Service Commission and the county government that would see the police service take charge of the recruitment process. “We are currently in the process of recruiting 650 new inspectorate officers and firemen to ensure efficiency in the security operations in Nairobi. Most of the firemen now are not able to respond to emergencies when need arises and that is why we need a change,” said Mr Ayisi.

He said the police service will train the new officers before commencing their duties. The county secretary pointed out that there were currently more than 2,000 inspectorate officers, with a majority approaching their retirement age, and that the new force is expected to have been recruited before the next financial year (2016/2017).

The entire inspectorate officers are also set to receive new uniforms that are expected to cost the county Sh80 million.

They will also have a uniform bearing a biometric number for easier identification. Ayisi said the tendering process was already complete and the officials were in the process of agreeing on the design.




“Most of our officers are old and more than 200 are approaching their retirement age, which is 60 years. The new batch is going to be trained by the police to ensure that there is a culture change starting from the top level to the lowest level,” he said, adding that “we want a force that is going to treat people in a humane way”.

He said inspectorate officers that were recently exposed harassing Nairobians have since been suspended. City askaris have in the past been linked to human rights abuse and even murder.