It took just one lascivious or maybe just mischievous
photo-journalist to bring attention to the entire world the ample blessings of
a lady traffic police officer in her skirt. For all the right reasons, Linda
Okello has been the focus of attention in the media, although I am sure that by
now she really would rather everyone go away and focus on their own behinds.
The thing about her skirt is that it fit her rather well. In
fact, according to Grace Kaindi the Deputy Inspector General of Police, the
skirt fit her so well that it may have been adjusted; something considered a
breaking of the rules. Fortunately for Linda, Inspector General David Kimaiyo
assured a parliamentary committee that no disciplinary action would be taken
against her.
The idea that police uniform can be such a hot topic speaks
volumes as to the mindset of most Kenyans. For starters, discussing the assets
of a police officer simply underscores how far down the intellectual scale we
are sliding as a nation. The fact of the matter is the central issue
surrounding police uniforms is not how the officers fill them out, but how
often they are issued with said uniforms.
The police service is undergoing reforms, but sad to say,
these reforms thus far have not taken into consideration simple issues like how
many uniforms are distributed and how often. Let’s face it; we can have no
pride in a service where the policemen don’t even have sufficient clothing that
fits well and at the same time is a smart representation of the sort of service
and national pride we expect of officers.
If the police don’t even get uniforms that can fit them
“decently” how can we expect the police to deal with terrorists or organized
crime? We often forget something so crucial about our police; that the
servicemen and women are essentially ordinary everyday people like us. They
aren’t rich middle class civil servants. These are people who live among us and
are part of our society.
Isn’t it incumbent upon us to discuss more than Linda’s
body? Let’s talk about what support she and her colleagues get if she can’t get
sufficient uniform. Let’s talk about the fact that members of the service are
expected to provide protection for millions while they themselves number in the
mere tens of thousands. Let’s talk about the fact that though we do have a
working police line to call for help, the police officer we expect to help us
doesn’t have sufficient resources to be able to respond adequately to each and
every call for help.
Let’s really talk about police reforms. So far, the
restructuring of the service has simply created new dispensation at the higher
levels, much of this dispensation has certainly not trickled down to the lower
cadres. You would think that the higher ranking officers, having had to climb
up through the ranks under such difficult circumstances would also be willing
to engage reforms that improves the working conditions of officers across the
board.
I.G David Kimaiyo has insisted that we are in a war against
terror and that we must win that war at all costs. But what exactly has been
done for the officers who are to conduct that war? I believe it is incumbent
upon the Inspector General and the Independent Police Oversight Authority to ensure
that the officers are fully equipped in every sense of the word so as to be
successful.
We lament the sort of brutality that the police officers use
in “screening” illegal immigrants at Kasarani, and by extension we complain
relentlessly about corruption in the service. As a nation, we surely can do
more than just complain. We can provide avenues for these issues to be
addressed with finality and we can do that as easily as we discussed Linda
Okello’s “tight security”.
We talk about corruption as though it is something that
happened in the past, and expect that by putting up posters and signs that say,
“This is a corruption free zone”, like magic the Service or institution has
cleaned up its record.
But if an officer cannot even receive uniforms in a regular
manner so as to be able to have her measurements adjusted as she grows
horizontally, then we have a serious problem.
We cannot expect police officers to function effectively if
they don’t have enough uniforms, if they are limited by the very clothing that
bears the sort of authority they wield. They say the clothes do not make the
man, but if the officer can’t even get enough clothes then it is no wonder that
some officers desecrate that uniform by being corrupt, and sometimes criminal
in their actions. In Kenya, the clothes do indeed make the officer, and a lack
of uniform tells us all what sort of officers we have in the service.
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