Few recruitment centres lock Lamu youth out of police jobs

 

Most Lamu youth have been unable to join the National Police Service because of the few recruitment centres in the region.

National Police Service Commission chairman Eliud Kinuthia on Monday said the agency was planning to establish more recruitment centres to encourage local youth to join the service.

Police recruitments are often conducted annually. Lamu has only two centres in Mkomani area in Lamu West and Faza in Lamu East.

Kinuthia cited the few centres and poor infrastructure as the major reasons why many in the region have had their dream to join the police service dashed.

Speaking in Lamu, Kinuthia said youth from the county have to trek for thousands of kilometers to Mkomani and Faza to take part in recruitments. He said many often arrive late for the exercise and are consequently locked out.

He appealed to the national government to consider putting up several such centres in every subcounty to ensure easy access for those interested.

“Walking from Witu or Kipini areas on the border of Lamu and Tana River all the way to Mkomani is not a joke and then they still miss out because somehow, they didn’t arrive on time.

"We are talking thousands of kilometers covered by a human being on foot. We are trying to bring in the government to establish these centers right where you are for ease of access,” Kinuthia said.

Witu to Mkomani is 53 kilometres.

In 2016, a delegation from Lamu met President Uhuru Kenyatta and requested that subcounties be increased from two to three.

Kinuthia said there were plans to have more recruitment centers in each of the three. 

“We currently have three subcounties: Lamu East, Lamu Central and Lamu West. We hope to have recruitment centres in every subcounty so that Lamu youth can easily partake in such exercises within their locality," he said.