Since the first appointments of current government, there has been several abortive actions that have left various groups divided. Some appointments have had to be De-gazetted after uproar. Tuesday’s changes by the president were not without controversy.
When President Uhuru announced a few changes in the defence forces at the start of this week, many didn’t expect such controversy has it has elicited. One such change was sucking of the police deputy inspector general Grace Kaindi, but later given a soft landing as a foreign ambassador.
Various groups have come up to advice Ms Kaindi to remain put in the office, terming the president’s actions as unconstitutional. The opposition CORD leader Raila Odinga, questioned the powers of the president to appoint office bearers on acting capacities without following due process. The National Police Service Commission (NPSC), however, denied the assertion and maintained that Ms. Kaindi left office after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years, adding that they would follow procedure when hiring her replacement.
On another frontier, the women activists has come guns blazing objecting to nomination of General Service Unit (GSU) Commandant Joel Kitili to act as deputy IG claiming the president has not acted within the constitution by a replacing the position with a man. The gender activists demanded for the substantive replacement to be a female.
“The president has replaced the DIG with another man, against the spirit of the Constitution, the Jubilee manifesto and his proclaimed support for women leadership in Kenya,” Ruth Aura, chairperson of Fida, Kenya, said.
