The government plans to increase the pay for uniformed officers by 40% starting from July 2024.
The pay rise will benefit uniformed officers serving in the National Police Service, Prisons Service andthe National Youth Service.
This according to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is part of efforts by the Kenya Kwanza administration to reform the national security sector.
Gachagua and his spouse, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, who on Monday celebrated the New Year at the Nyeri Maximum Security Prison, noted the challenges faced by the prison warders in terms of salary, allowances and housing, saying that the government would progressively increase their salary over a period of time.
They donated 2,000 pieces of mattresses and blankets, and shared a meal with the more than 2,000 inmates from the Maximum Prison and the neighbouring Nyeri Women Prison, and Medium Prison that hosts those with a lesser sentences.
The Deputy President said that the government will help the King’ong’o Prison utilize its track of land through irrigation to produce food to feed inmates and other Kenyans.
“King’ong’o Prison has 88 acres of land. We will plan on how you can get irrigation farming so that you can produce enough food for consumption here, supply to Kiganjo Police Training College and the hospitals in this area,” he said.
He observed that the Prisons Department has potential to promote agriculture, industrialization and contribute to the realization of the food security agenda using facilities of the penal institutions in the country.
He explained that the focus is in areas of agriculture mechanization, furniture and mechanics workshops so to promote training of courses and life-changing skills.