Police Announce New Cadet Recruitment After Two-Year Pause

The National Police Service (NPS) is set to resume recruitment of cadet officers after a two-year hiatus.

Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo made this revelation on Friday, January 11, while speaking to NTV, stating that the recruitment drive would happen in the second half of 2025.

Omollo noted that this move was in line with the recommendations of the National Taskforce on Police Reforms led by Chief Justice Emeritus David Maraga.

The recruitment of the cadet officers, which was cut short two years ago over budgetary constraints, is aimed at improving service delivery in President William Ruto’s administration.

“We are in the process of bringing in reforms into our police service, and key amongst them is the reintroduction of the hiring of cadet officers so that not everybody who joins the rank and file of the national police must join at the same level,” Omollo stated. 

The fresh recruitment comes at a time when Kenya grapples to meet the United Nations recommended police-to-civilian ratio of 1:450. The 2024 economic survey indicated that the service had 102,209 in 2023, which translated to a ratio of 1:479.

Further, the recruitment coincides with a period where the police are under heightened scrutiny in light of the recent spate of abductions that were allegedly conducted by individuals drawn from the police service. 

The Interior PS sought to allay this scrutiny, stating that the reforms would go a long way in bringing sweeping changes to the service. He added that the government will resolve to deal with any officers caught straying out of line.

“The fact that they are police officers does not take away from them that they are also humans. They need our empathy and our support. Even when we have a few bad elements, yes, we need to deal with them. But to a large extent we have very patriotic officers who make it their responsibility to keep all of us safe,” the PS noted. 

It is expected that the fresh recruits, together with their established counterparts, will work closely with the recently introduced National Government Administrative Officers who were brought in to ensure law and order right from the grassroots level. 

Meanwhile, Omollo noted that other reforms that have been implemented in line with the recommendations from the Maraga-led task force were administrative issues such as the re-stationing of officers to curb ‘overstaying.’

“Some of those recommendations have already been actualised, particularly the administrative ones. The ones that talk about the movement of officers or just to address the gap of officers overstaying in specific or particular stations over time,” he noted.

“We have also been able to implement part of the recommendations on the salaries and remuneration of these police officers,” Omollo added. Officers in all cadres of the police service were given a 20 per cent salary increment. 

Kenyans are now urged to be on the lookout for information from the National Police Service (NPS) in regard to the recruitment drive dates and other relevant details.