Former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende has been shortlisted for a top job in the National Police Service (NPS).
Marende is among fourteen other individuals shortlisted to attend interviews for the position of the chairperson of the National Police Service Commission following the expiry of Johnstone Kavuludi's term.
Before shortlisting, Marende had to contend with stiff competition from a number of seasoned but retired police officers, of which 10 were picked to feature in scheduled interviews set to kick off starting from January 28, to end on February 2.
According to the selection panel chairperson Stephen Kirogo, three commissioners in the NPS will come from the public, a thing that could offer Marende an upper hand in securing the job.
The chairmanship and the remaining two other slots would then be reserved for retired police officers.
Other individuals who have since been shortlisted for the top post of the chairperson include Dr Zachary Mwangi, Elijah Kodoh, Peter ole Nkuraiyia, Lady Justice Joice Aluoch, Mukhtar Abdi, Lucy Wanja, Elijah Nduati, Eliud Kinuthia Irene Wanyoike among others.
The shortlisting comes at a time that police officers have been criticized for staging extrajudicial killings mostly on youth especially from Nairobi slum areas and border counties over alleged links to terrorism.