The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has called on the government to upgrade police surveillance communication to make it possible for members of the public to access individual online records of police officers using their names and numbers.
The call – which was made in an open letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta on the COFEK website – has been made in light of the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa.
“When your predecessor, H.E Mwai Kibaki, visited China in May 2010, talk of police communications project with the Chinese government, which was offer a concessional loan facility of about US$100 million, to finance the project,” COFEK said.
“Before that could happen the process of upgrading the Police Surveillance Communication Command and Control system ran into the procurement headwinds with two Chinese companies ending up in court over the lucrative multi-billion project. With the Chinese premier expected in the country, this Friday, it might be useful to discuss this project if it is not on the cards yet.”
Kenya’s police service currently uses the Analogue Microwave Trunked Radio Communication system for conveying both voice and data within the country and at its borders. COFEK said this was out of date.
In 2006 Kibaki’s government instituted a steering committee comprising of public and private stakeholders to spearhead the upgrade of the police communications systems from analogue to digital. This committee was tasked with coming up with recommendations for a more reliable police communications system.
The committee included the National Police Service (NPS), the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), Orange Telkom Kenya, Safaricom, Airtel Kenya and the Nairobi Central Business Association.
The committee came up with a system that improved security surveillance in Kenya’s cities and towns and included ultra-modern CCTV cameras as well as speedy communication for the NPS.
The Chinese meeting that involved Kibaki in May 2010 bore a concessionary loan of US$100 million for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the national surveillance, communication, command and control systems in the NPS.
The tender for the contract was cancelled in February 2013 by Francis Kimemia – who was then head of the civil service – who said the tender has been compromised.
After a withdrawal it was cancelled again, with COFEK urging the president to initiate the project again.
