Gov’t Launches Paramilitary Training For Administrators

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun, 15 – Grassroots administrators are currently undergoing paramilitary training at the Administration Police Training College, Embakasi. Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said the five-week-long training for 451 Assistant County Commissioners (formerly DOs) aims at equipping the officers with leadership skills for effective public administration.

More cohorts are also targeted for training by the end of the year and the course will eventually be cascaded to the chiefs’ level, the PS said.

“Over the past few years, we have seen shortfalls in leadership at different levels. This is what we are trying to correct by ensuring that the people who are supposed to provide leadership at the grassroots level are adequately trained,” he said.

The PS said the training hopes to, among other things, help fight corruption by resetting an entrenched perception that citizens must pay bribes to access public services. He said that the officers will be required to conduct civic education on ideal virtues and their link to social development, integrity, and civic responsibility.

He said: “This is a calling. We must start planting this seed in the minds of the people that this country is not about ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ mentality.”

The current class attending the course is the largest number ever to be enrolled at a go. Around 1,200 officers are yet to undergo the training. The PS directed that the remaining 900 ACCs report for training after the August general election with Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs set to follow by December.

He assured the officers that the State will continue to improve their work environment and welfare. This year, the government has acquired 350 new vehicles under the leasing programme in an addition to 200 earlier ones.

“From history, we know the challenges we have had. As a ministry, we have put in a lot of effort to address them. The citizens we are serving are our employers. We must serve them fairly, honestly, diligently, and efficiently,” the PS said.

The PS was accompanied by Deputy Inspector General (APS) Noor Gabow and Secretary for National Administration (SNA) Arthur Osiya.