Wamuzi News Ke
In a major legal and administrative upheaval, the High Court has temporarily suspended the recruitment drive for 10,000 police constables and officers by the National Police Service (NPS), throwing the planned nationwide exercise into limbo.
Recruitment Halted at the Eleventh Hour
On Monday, Justice Bahati Mwamuye of the Milimani High Court issued a conservatory order that halts the recruitment notice issued on November 4, 2025. The suspension comes ahead of the scheduled recruitment date of November 17, 2025, pending a full hearing of a petition challenging the legality of the exercise.
The petition, filed by activist Eliud Matindi, contends that the process is constitutionally flawed because the chartered recruitment authority lies elsewhere. The order bars the NPS and any of its agents from proceeding with any recruitment activities until the matter is determined.
Legal Battle at the Heart of the Suspension
Matindi’s petition argues that under Article 246(3)(a) of the Constitution and related statutes, the authority to recruit belongs uniquely to the National Police Service Commission (NPSC), not the Inspector General or any other organ. The court ruling builds on a prior judgment which found that the NPSC lacked constitutional authority in its previous recruitment role and placed operational control with the NPS.
Justice Mwamuye held that the contentious legal issues are of great public importance — and ordered immediate service of the petition to respondents, with pleadings due by December 11, 2025, and a mention hearing set for January 22, 2026. The ruling further attached a penal notice warning against violation of the order.
Stakes for Security, Governance, and Applicants
The sudden suspension disrupts one of the government’s significant efforts to bolster policing numbers across the country — recruitment that was meant to support both rural and urban security priorities. Applicants who had already begun preparations for the November 17 exercise now face indefinite delays and uncertainty.
The institutional credibility of both the NPS and NPSC is under strain: the latter has been challenging recruitment authority, while the former must pause its high-visibility operational rollout. For the public, this saga flags wider concerns about governance transparency, legal clarity and accountability in key national processes.
What to Watch
- Whether the recruitment drive will resume and how soon once the court issues a ruling.
- Possible internal delays or resignations within the NPS or NPSC as tensions escalate.
- Policy fallout: whether this will trigger legislative reform of policing recruitment structures.
- Impact on applicants: how many will drop out, and how this affects public trust in recruitment fairness.
The High Court’s intervention has abruptly halted the planned recruitment of 10,000 police officers, marking a significant blow to the government’s security recruitment agenda and exposing deeper institutional rifts over constitutional authority. The outcome of the case will not just affect thousands of applicants — it could reshape how police recruitment is governed in Kenya.
