The Government through the National Police Service established the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) in 2016 to address the security challenges facing some of the country’s critical infrastructures.
The Unit is housed within the Administration Police Service (APS) to mitigate the security risks to Kenya’s critical infrastructure.
The Authority, in the recent past, received complaints from both the officers deployed to CIPU and the public on various issues touching on discipline, payment of allowances, transfers, promotion, corruption-related complaints, tooling and infrastructure.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Act mandates the Authority to conduct inspections of Police premises and detention facilities under the control of the service. During the recent inspections carried out across the country, a total of 27 CIPU facilities were inspected and an estimated 2,027 officers were present at these facilities.
The Authority inspected the CIPU officer’s deployment and Supervision. CIPU officers are strategically deployed across the country to cover a range of critical infrastructure sites. The deployment is based on risk assessments, threat intelligence, and the criticality of each infrastructure asset.
High-priority locations such as Major Power stations and key transportation e.g. Nairobi expressway receive dedicated CIPU presence to mitigate threats effectively.
However, some critical Infrastructures such as the KBC, JKIA and Lodwar Airport are manned by the General Service Unit and Kenya Police Service.
The briefing of these officers by their superiors happened before and after deployment, the Authority noted that briefing was not consistent and documentation was not available. Supervision was through telephone calls as the Authority found out, the unavailability of Vehicles and Fuel allocation.
Where officers were deployed to financial institutions, managers of the institutions regularly communicated with their supervisors. Officers manning one Critical Infrastructure, the Nairobi Expressway were facilitated after China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) intervened.
The Authority on the other hand recommended to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to adequately provide resources including finances, vehicles, fuel and lubricants, stationery, communication gadgets, food rations, uniforms, and office equipment in CIPU facilities and ensure the officers are satisfied for a better service delivery to the service.
CIPU officers in North Eastern are reported to have overstayed in the region. This negatively affected the Unit’s work and demotivated officers. In Turkana Region, the Authority noted, officers drawn from the area have integrated with the locals, which may compromise their commitment to duty.
The nature of critical Infrastructure protection demands a 24 hours operational presence. CIPU officers adhere to flexible working hours, including night shifts and weekends, to maintain continuous surveillance and response capabilities.
Due to inadequate staff strength, CIPU officers worked for more than 8 hours per day. CIPU Commanders addressed their officers’ long working hours by granting them time off to compensate for the hours worked.
IPOA established Disparity in Ranking among the CIPU officers. Compared to KPS counterparts, CIPU commanders at regional levels held lower ranks. A sub-county CIPU Commander has the rank of Inspector while a Sub-County Commander in KPS holds the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP). This presented a challenge in deploying Commanders, Leadership and Supervision among the CIPU officers.
The Hiring of Police officers by institutions is addressed to the Deputy Inspector of General, Administration Police Service and DIG directs regional Commanders in writing to deploy the officers to requesting Institutions.
The Institutions that mainly hire police services are financial entities, government offices, individuals and private companies. The applicable rates for hiring the police services were last gazetted in 9th February 2007 vide the Gazette notice.
However, the Gazette Notice did not provide for the stipend (lunch allowance) that is issued directly to individual officers by the hiring institutions. Institutions are left at liberty to decide the amount to pay the officers. It was observed that some institutions’ payments varied between Ksh.500 and Ksh.1, 000.
It was also noted that the applicable rates for hire of armed police officers varied in ranks of the officers from Police Constable to Inspector.
The officers were to be hired for eight (8) hours per day as per the Gazette notice. However, the Authority noted officers worked for more than 8 hours a day when hired.
From the documentation availed by the CIPU Commanders, payment rates for police hire services were complied with and records were kept in respect to it. CIPU Commanders received cheques after the service.
The cheques were then deposited into a centralized government-operated account under the Ministry of Interior. Further, it was noted that none of the CIPU commanders knew whether the cheques were forwarded to the National Treasury as per the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act and the Service Standing Orders (SSO).
IPOA recognizes the welfare of police officers and recommends its findings to the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to prioritize and improve police welfare for effective service delivery.