CS Murkomen Flags Off National Training for Over 8,000 Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 16 – Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has launched an induction programme for 8,102 chiefs and assistant chiefs, as first major grassroots administration training in nearly seven years.

Speaking at the National Police Service Embakasi Campus, Murkomen said the move addresses a glaring capacity gap that has hindered service delivery at the community level.

“It’s unbelievable that the last time chiefs and assistant chiefs attended a course of this kind was 2018,” he said.

“Some of you here were employed as far back as the 1990s, even the 1980s, and have never undergone the mandatory basic training. That is not acceptable.”

The rapid training programme will begin with 1,000 officers, with the remaining 7,102 set to undergo the four-week induction on a rolling monthly basis.

The curriculum combines paralegal studies, security management, and practical skills to handle emerging challenges such as land disputes, crime prevention, and cross-border threats.

Murkomen described chiefs and assistant chiefs as the bedrock of our administration and the base of the national government’s security framework, adding that they are key to implementing the government’s bottom-up economic transformation agenda.

He pledged to follow the training with long-pending promotions, improved mobility, salary reviews, and better uniforms.

“We will ensure your measurements are taken and uniforms delivered to county headquarters no more being thrown ill-fitting clothes through a window,” he said.

The CS also urged administrators to tackle corruption, gender-based violence, and alcohol and drug abuse head-on.

“You are the most trusted public servants in Kenya, but trust must be protected. Do not take bribes to sign documents, to look the other way, or to resolve crimes such as defilement in a baraza. Such cases must go to court,” he warned.

Murkomen noted that chiefs often know of problems in their localities before anyone else, and called for proactive enforcement in collaboration with the newly established National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAO).

He also stressed the importance of national unity, urging chiefs to rise above political and tribal divisions.

“The stability of the nation depends on an independent public service that serves everyone equally. When you stand in a baraza, you must teach your people to see Kenya as one fabric, one united country,” he said.