Top police officers sell key jobs, including recruitment slots, for as high as Sh600,000, the Maraga task force report reveals.

The report says corruption runs deep in the police system and whenever recruitment is announced, the top leadership divides available places among themselves and offer them to the highest bidders, making the exercise on the fields a mere charade.

The 20-member committee considered improvement of the terms and conditions of service and other reforms for the members of the National Police Service, the Prisons and the National Youth Service.

It was formed by President William Ruto in December 2022.

The report obtained by the Star says that despite the huge investment in the police reforms over the past 15 years, not much can be shown for it as the police culture of impunity, taking sides during elections, use of brute force and a patronising attitude of the seniors towards the juniors remain deeply entrenched.

Efforts to reform the police service have included a change in the Constitution, enactment of a raft of laws and regulations and the establishment of a civilian oversight mechanism.

“None of these has yielded the desired result [and] instead, every year, the National Police Service is routinely ranked as the most corrupt institution in the country without any sanctions, thus breeding a culture of impunity, which has spread to the other uniformed services,” the report reads.

 The failure of community policing to take off is emblematic of this impunity.

The report says while the Constitution expects that police recruitment be transparent, competitive and merit-based to yield the most qualified, professional and ethnically balanced personnel, the current practice is riddled with nepotism, tribalism, favouritism and outright buying of the slots.

“The task force heard, from literally all 47 counties, of rampant corruption, cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism and political influence peddling during police recruitment exercises.”