Over 42,000 police officers who have served in one station for more than three years will be transferred by next Wednesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said on Tuesday.

The security minister said some 42,500 officers would be affected by the transfers which he termed as inevitable.

“The government has decided to transfer all National Police Service (NPS) officers who have stayed for more than three years in one station. Some 42,500 officers will be transferred by Wednesday next week by all means possible,” Kindiki said during a security review forum in Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County.

He said officers who have extensively served in one duty station “have no capacity to enforce the law impartially.”

“They have even married and opened businesses there, you don’t know if someone is an officer or one of the villagers” Kindiki said.

In October last year, Kindiki told the Senate that the National Police Service had been given a maximum of 60 days to facilitate the transfers.

He at the time warned that officers who would not move would not receive their salaries, adding that the NPS had been notified of the guidelines in late September.

For officers doing special assignments, meanwhile, he said the provision of a year-long maximum service at a duty station given would be enforced.