Why 590 GSU Officers Have Been Moved To General Duties

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 6- As the country gears towards an electioneering period, the National Police Service is set to undertake major changes, in a bid to promote law and order during the political season.

Already, Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua has moved 590 General Service Unit officers to general duties, in a bid to enhance security operations across Kenya.

According to an internal memo seen by Shahidi News, the officers from the ranks of senior sergeant, sergeant, corporal, and constables have been deployed to various police stations in the country.

The officers are set to move to their new stations by January 12.

“Inform and release them to report to their new station on or before January 12 without fail,” reads the internal memo.

The internal memo is dated January 4, 2022.

The new officers will increase the capacity of GDU officers, during the busy electioneering period.

Already political temperatures have started rising across the country and incidents of violence witnessed during rallies.

With highly contested party nominations on schedule, general duty officers will be strained, as they seek to maintain law and order.

Already, a contest to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta whose term is ending this year has taken shape, with his Deputy William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga emerging as frontrunners.

Recently, more than 2,500 General Service Unit officers graduated from the Embakasi B Campus in Nairobi with a 9-month basic police training course.

“This is a timely move. We want to ensure there is no breach of peace during this season,” a senior officer based at the police headquarters in Nairobi told Shahidi News.

The National Police Service alongside other security agencies has since mapped out security hotspots in the country, ahead of the elections.

As it has been a tradition, Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa are not on the list of hot spots.

President Kenyatta has vowed to ensure a peaceful transition, to avoid a recurrence of 2007-2008 post-election violence, when more than 1,000 people were killed and 600,000 others internally displaced.