Kenya government increases police recruitment

With public confidence in its security apparatus at an all time low, Kenya is trying polish its image by stepping up recruitment and removing some officials from positions of command.

Several senior officials have been suspended and thousands of new police recruits are being vetted.

The Kenyan government says the suspended civil servants and senior police officers could even face charges of criminal negligence in connection with the massacre at Garissa University College earlier this month, during which 148 people were killed.

Meanwhile President Uhuru Kenyatta has pledged to recruit more than 10,000 new police officers.

This followed an earlier drive to recruit 10,000 new police officers in July 2014, which was stopped after a court ruling stated it contravened the constitution.

That ruling came in response to a petition lodged by Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority, which said the recruitment drive was tainted by corruption and should therefore be declared null and void.

After the Garissa attack, Kenyatta overturned the 2014 court ruling, whereupon the government launched a fresh recruitment drive.

Preliminary vetting of new police recruits has already begun.

500 applicants turned up at Nyayo National Stadium, south of Nairobi, earlier this week to have their educational qualifications examined and physical fitness assessed.