The Employment and Labour Relations Court has barred the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) from taking part in police recruitment.
In her ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Hellen Wasilwa stated NPSC has no powers to recruit, assign or deploy officers citing Articles 243 and 244 and affirmed that matters of police recruitment, training, and discipline fall squarely within the National Police Service (NPS) mandate.
The court ruled that allowing the Commission to handle matters of recruitment and deployment would compromise the operational independence of the police, which the Constitution safeguards to ensure professionalism and accountability within the security sector.
The Court also declared that any recruitment process advertised or initiated by the NPSC Chairperson, Peter Lelei, is null and void for violating the Constitution.
The court further issued a permanent injunction barring the NPSC from conducting any future recruitment, training, assignment, suspension, or dismissal of police officers.
NPSC had scheduled the recruitment exercise to take place from October 3 to October 9, 2025. However, the exercise was stopped as the Employment and Labour Relations Court, on October 2, issued a temporary order halting the recruitment
Following the ruling, NPS will immediately issue new recruitment dates for officers anytime from now.
