Regarding the widely publicized incident involving the citizen who helped build up a police patrol post in Ndugulu, Uasin Gishu county, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has spoken out.
On Sunday, March 9, pictures of the police patrol base went viral, sparking an online discussion on whether a civilian had the right to create a government-run institution.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, March 12, Kanja insisted that those responsible for setting up the patrol base “made a mistake,” adding that the law requires that due procedure be followed.
“A police station was recently opened by someone. First of all, that is a mistake,” the police chief stated.
The inspector general then went on to outline a detailed procedure that the police patrol base’s mastermind ought to have adhered to, beginning with public involvement. Kanja asserts that in order to ascertain whether the community actually requires a police station, the local leadership ought to have been consulted as well.
“The request should have then been taken to the sub-county security committee led by the Deputy County Commissioner, police commanders, and members of the National Intelligence Service,” he continued.
Kanja added that in order to make the gazetting of the patrol base easier, the Inspector General of Police was also expected to have been informed of the action.
A day after the media interviewed Collins Letich, the man who supplied the paint needed to convert a structure into a station, the police chief responded.
Collins stated that the’station’ was established less than a week ago at the request of local community members, in contrast to what has been reported online. The indigenous people of Uasin Gishu claim that the patrol base has never been operational.
Additionally, he asserted that the decision was motivated by the general lack of security in the area, since residents had to go far to the closest police station in order to receive services.
Kanja left the possibility of a gazetted post being set up in the area in the future open, even though he criticized the patrol base’s establishment for not according to protocol.
