2,000 Kenyan police 'mentally unfit' to serve - Inspector-General of Police

A task force established in January to fight the rising mental health cases among police officers has revealed that about 2000 police officers in Kenya are mentally unfit to serve in the police service.

The Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai made this public during a meeting with bishops and senior clergy of the Anglican Church in Nairobi on Tuesday. According to him, the findings were established after medical examinations were conducted on police officers.

“We have subjected all the officers to medical examination, and to our surprise, we got a big number. We isolated almost 2,000 police officers who are unfit to do their law enforcement work,” said Mutyambai.

Mutyambai’s says a process to manage some of the mentally unstable officers, has started. His remarks come on the back of increased suicide and depression cases among law enforcers.

“ To remove someone from work (because of medical grounds) is not easy. The government has its processes,” he said.

“Our tool of work is the gun, and when one bullet is discharged, the implications are serious.”

The task force opened up channels of communication among the officers as part of ways of detecting any form of stress among them.

About 2000 police officers in Kenya are mentally unfit to serve in the police service. Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai.

Speaking to https://familynews.today/ Rev.Edward Ngaira a therapist by profession said that the mental instability experienced in our Police Service is a result of long working hours, low remuneration, family and work pressure with no ventilation of emotional challenges, hence, they end up finding solace in alcohol.

“Majority of our police officers are working in hardship areas and conditions away from homes. Poor public perception of the service has also made it hard for the officers to socialize with other members of the public.”

Rev.Ngaira highlighted that embracing spirituality and psychological therapy should be encouraged within the disciplined service.

“With such statistics, criminality will rise as police are unwilling to intervene, and they can easily be tempted to participate in the crime thus endangering the society.” He said.

He highlighted the importance of having stable officers in the service, pointing out the high risk posed especially when the officers are in the custody of guns.