Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i has said the ministry will craft rules barring police officers from engaging in romantic relations with their colleagues.
The minister says the move is meant to avert marital
murders.
Matiang’i spoke on Friday, April 30 at the Kenya Police
Training College in Kiganjo, Nyeri County during the
induction of new police recruits.
“We are scaling up the management practice of the police
service,” he said.
“We have to adopt a new way [of doing things]. We will
create a new gender relations office that will be under the
supervision of the Inspector General of Police. Some of the
female police officers have filed sexual harassment
complaints. I want to assure you that it won’t happen in the
future,” added the CS.
Matiang’i said his ministry is concerned by the rising
numbers of National Police Service officers killing their
loved ones who are also in the forces.
“We will adopt a system similar to that of the Kenya
Defence Forces (KDF) which bars the soldiers from getting
into intimate relationships with their colleagues. Moving
forward, it will be illegal for a police officer to date or get
married to a fellow law enforcement officer. If it happens
that two police officers fall in love, then one has to leave
the Service,” he said.
The CS also warned high-ranking police officers against
sexually harassing their juniors, stating the senior cops
would be stripped of titles and, thereafter, sacked.
“We won’t talk much moving forward, we will act,” he
emphasised.
The CS, however, said police officers who are already
married to their colleagues won’t be affected by the new
directive.
The minister also put the media on the spot, claiming
journalists often paint police officers in bad light.
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