Fred Mukinda
17 August 2008
Nairobi — Eleven youths are being held by police for seeking admission into police training colleges using forged documents.
They were arrested on Friday last week as the delayed training of 4,000 youths recruited in March started at the General Service Unit training college in Nairobi.
The suspects, eight men and three women, are locked at Nairobi's Central Police Station and are scheduled to be arraigned in court Monday.Area Criminal Investigations Department chief Festus Malinge said they will be charged with being in possession of forged Government documents.
While recruited candidates were required to report to the GSU Training School at Embakasi, those in custody had sought enrolment at Vigilance House, the police headquarters.
The youths, from Kericho District, arrived at the headquarters in a hired matatu and presented forged recruitment cards that bore the police logo.
The force embarked on a countrywide recruitment exercise in March and training was set to start immediately but was put off following a dispute between the police and the National Youth Service over training facilities.
Detectives suspect that during the period, people masquerading as police recruiting officers had convinced the youths to part with money in exchange for the documents.
Ainamoi MP Benjamin Lang'at visited the police station at the weekend seeking the release of the suspects.
The matatu carrying the youths arrived at the police headquarters at 7pm on Friday and they sought audience with senior officers. But officers from the Central Police Station were summoned and arrested them. The matatu was also impounded.
A senior police officer told the Nation that there was no way 11 candidates from the same administrative location could have qualified to join the force since recruitment was based on a quota system.
Not qualified
After the March recruitment, successful candidates were issued with cards showing their personal details, similar to the ones the suspects had produced.
The recruits were supposed to start training on March 28 at the National Youth Service Training College in Gilgil.
But the NYS management blocked the move, apparently angered after the police rejected most of their graduates, saying they were not qualified to join the force.
The Government had embarked on a crash programme aimed at inducting NYS graduates into the force but the recruitment officers rejected them, saying they had failed to meet set standards.
The police then recruited from the public, prompting the NYS to bar them from using their training facilities.
On Tuesday last week, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe announced the new reporting date and appealed to recruits to produce identification numbers issued on the recruitment day and duly completed questionnaires before starting the nine-month course.
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