The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Joseph ole Lenku, yesterday signed a Sh1.7 billion life insurance cover deal for police and prisons officers.
Pioneer Assurance Company Ltd will now cover all police and prisons officers with effect from July 1, 2014.
This is a move that was long overdue.
Generations of officers have yearned for cover. Now 107,000 men and women will benefit (the entire regular police and Administration police complement of 80,000 and 27,000 prisons officers).
Lenku said the life cover is part of the continuous police reforms that also seek to improve the welfare of officers.
This is as it should be.
Police and prisons officers are among Kenyans' first line of defence, particularly in such dangerous times as these, when insecurity and violence are frequent and occasionally rampant.
In more mature systems, for instance the United Kingdom's, police officers are offered a package that covers life insurance, critical illness and income protection.
However, in Kenya, a multi billion-shilling medical insurance cover for the National Police Service remains in abeyance after the tender was cancelled and is scheduled for re-advertisement.
The sooner this is done, and the authorities get it right this time, the better for these officers - and indeed all Kenyans.
Source: The Star
No comments:
Post a Comment