MPs Push for Setting Up of a Special Parliamentary Police Unit

Members of Parliament are pushing for the creation of a special police unit to protect them while at the August House.

A new Bill tabled in the National Assembly proposes the setting up of a Parliamentary Police Unit that will be answerable to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), but supervised by the National Police Service (NPS).

The Bill is dubbed the Parliamentary Service Bill, 2018, and is sponsored by National Assembly leader of Majority Aden Duale.

“The Parliamentary Police Unit shall be responsible for the provision of security to the Speaker of each House of Parliament and members of Parliament generally,” the Bill reads.

“The officer in charge of the Parliamentary Police Unit shall make such periodic reports as may be specified in the standard operating procedures of the commission.”

The Bill states that the Inspector General of Police will appoint an officer of the rank above that of an assistant commissioner of police through a Gazette notice, to be in charge of the special unit.

“The standard operating procedures and staffing requirements of the Parliamentary Police Unit shall be publicised to the officers of the unit. The commission [PSC] may request the transfer or redeployment of officers of the unit,” the Bill reads.

Officers currently guarding Parliament are deployed by the National Police Service and has no links with the Parliamentary Service Commission.