THE NATIONAL POLICE RESERVE: POLICING PASTORALIST NORTH WESTERN KENYA
Abstract
The National Police Reserve (formerly Kenya Police Reserve) is a complementary police reserve force that provides the bulk of policing in the hard-to-reach pastoralist areas of north western Kenya. The NPR, although a formal police service, operates largely informally and mired in dire deformities. The paper presents it origin, legal basis and its deformities including: haphazard conditions of service, politicization, lack of training, discriminatory tendencies in the recruitment. Tenets of the broken windows theory are used to account for crime and conflict in neglected areas occupied by pastoralists in Kenya. The paper concludes that NPR holds the key to restoring law and order in the lawless pastoralist north western Kenya region if supported by the central government of Kenya.
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List of Interviewees
A Pokot elder and Chairman of the Kokwo (a council of elders). Interviewed at Kositei on June 8, 2017).
A Chief in Turkana South sub-county interviewed. Interviewed on June 29, 2017.
A Chief of Baringo North Su-county. Interviewed at Yatya area. on June 10, 2017
A Senior Administration Officer in Turkana South.. Interviewed on July 14, 2017.
A Tugen Chies. Interviewed on June 6, 2017.
An elderly police reservist in Turkana South. Interviewed on June 21, 2017.
An NPR Officer. Interviewed at Loruk on June 16, 2017.
An Il Chamus Chief. Interviewed at Mukutani area on July 4, 2017.
A Christian religious leader who was conversant with how politicians influence the recruitment of NPR in the region. Interviewed at Masol in Pokot Central on July 21, 2017.
A Baringo County Administrator who was familiar with the politics of NPR in Pokot, Tugen and Il Chamus communities. Interviewed on July 17, 2017.
A senior police officer, Interviewed at Kolloa area on July 25, 2017.
A senior administration official who had served in North Western for over a decade and therefore knowledgeable about NPR and security in the region.
An NPR interviewed at Kapedo section of Turkana East.
A Church leader from Nadome in Turkana East. Interviewed at Nadome Church on July 16, 2017.
A senior politician from Elgeyo-Marakwet County. He was part of the team that discussed NPR in the Legislative Assembly in 2016. Interviewed on July 23, 2017.
A chief from Pokot North Sub–county. Interviewed on June 10, 2017.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v0i0.387
Copyright (c) 2018 Beneah M. Mutsotso
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