The National Assembly’s departmental committee of Administration and Internal Security has begun the process of receiving views on a Bill that if enacted, will help make provisions for promotion of the mental wellness and wellbeing of police officers.
The committee this week held sessions with the sponsor of the proposed Bill, Suna West MP Peter Masara, who urged the team to speed up the processing of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Masara, while appearing before the Gabriel Tongoyo-led Committee, put a strong case in favour of the proposed Bill, arguing that police officers in the country required psychosocial support given the rising cases of suicide and shootings among police officers.
“When I served in this Committee in the last Parliament, I got an opportunity to traverse over three-quarters of police stations in the country. My experience from my interactions with police officers is that there is a missing link in the reforms being undertaken to improve their welfare,” Masara said.
According to the lawmaker, the enactment of the proposed Bill may also require a budgetary allocation of about Sh900 million phased out in three years to cover for development of support centres, medical equipment and staff deployment.
Making their remarks over the legislative proposal, members led by Hon. Tongoyo observed that though the Bill is of immense importance, the country may not immediately afford to fund the development of support centres.
They suggested that the Police Service could kickstart the program from already existing infrastructure.
“We are all aware of the current financial situation in the country. It is our opinion that although the Bill proposes the decentralization of the support initiative to the level of sub-county headquarters, that we consider rolling it out first at the County level, where most referral medical facilities are based, then it can be cascaded to the sub-county level, later,” said Tongoyo.
However, Masara explained that since the National Police Service Commission has been mandated by law to deal with NPS human resource aspects, it was better that the initiative be handled by the Commission.
The Committee vice-chairman also sought to know why the proposal does not cover all the disciplined forces who, like the Police Service, are prone to post traumatic stress disorders due to their working conditions.
The committee is now set to hold engagements with Kenya Law Review Commission and the Attorney-General before subjecting the proposed legislation to public participation.
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