[SIZE=7]Return of old police uniform as President Ruto stamps authority[/SIZE]
Saturday, January 14, 2023
By Nicholas Komu
President William Ruto’s administration has allowed the police to wear uniforms phased out by former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government four years ago, reversing yet another key policy decision by his predecessor.
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Poor quality and shortage of the widely unpopular, all-royal blue uniforms have been cited as the reasons behind the reintroduction of the old uniforms.
Saturday Nation has also learnt of a plan to review the design of police officers’ and prison wardens’ uniforms, hand-in-hand with a proposal to introduce the use of body cameras by the officers.
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The internal directive will see general duty Kenya Police Service (KPS) officers operating with two sets of uniforms, the old and the new.
The arrangement to have in use two sets of uniforms at the same time for general duty assignments is expected to continue until a task force on police reforms set by President Ruto gives its final recommendations on which uniforms will stay in use.
[SIZE=6]Poor quality[/SIZE]
National Police Service spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango told Saturday Nation the new directive was issued to address the problem of the unavailability of the new uniforms as well as the poor quality of the fabric.
Read: Govt to purchase uniforms for police officers, President William Ruto says
“There are some officers who do not have enough of the blue ones or they have faded as you may have seen in the streets. Since they still have the old ones, they can wear them. We are wearing them concurrently,” said Dr Resila.
Already, police officers on duty have been spotted donning the old sky blue shirts and navy blue trousers for male officers and white shirts and navy blue trousers for female officers.
Officers in the senior command ranks of Inspector of Police (IP) and above will be allowed to wear their traditional beige uniforms as well as the new ones.
The directive is the clearest indication yet of the impending review of police uniforms barely four years after the last one.
In 2018, NPS introduced the new royal blue uniforms that were to be worn by all officers under Kenya Police Service, for all ranks.
The uniforms were met with harsh criticism from officers and the public who termed them as ‘ugly’.
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Members of the uniformed and disciplined forces during a thanksgiving service at Holy Family Minor Basilica on November 6, 2022. President William Ruto’s administration has allowed the police to wear uniforms phased out by former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government four years ago.
File | Nation Media Group
The matter became the subject and part of campaign pledges by the Kenya Kwanza coalition, with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua likening the deep blue uniforms to those worn by the Women’s Guild of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA).
Read: Gachagua rattles clergy, women after call to donate police uniform
While criticising the blue uniform last year, Mr Gachagua said that upon taking over, the Kenya Kwanza government would withdraw and donate them to the PCEA Women’s Guild.
“Polisi wetu wametumiwa vibaya na Matiang’i. Hata ile uniform wamesukumiwa hawataki. Tutawaondolea turudishe ile ya zamani. Na hiyo ya blue tutarudisha kwa kanisa ya PCEA, ni ya Women’s Guild. (Our police have been misused by Matiang’i. They have even rejected the new uniform that has been forced on them. We will revoke that blue uniform and return it to the PCEA church; it belongs to the Women’s Guild),” DP Gachagua said on the campaign trail.
[SIZE=6]Visibility[/SIZE]
Top security officials at the time, however, argued that the royal blue colour was picked to enhance the visibility of the police as well as for uniformity across all ranks during the merger of the Administration Police and the Kenya Police.
Former Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho had said at the time that the decision by the previous administration to change the uniforms was arrived at through a review by the Uniform Committee.
Read: Former CJ Maraga to head taskforce on police reforms
This position was also backed by then-Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet.
The review was also done as part of a plan to revive Kenya’s cotton industry by halting the importation of police uniforms that was touted to save the country Sh700 million.
Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i at the time hit out at critics, insisting that the decision to manufacture police uniforms locally was final.
“Is it not simply outrageous for someone to say that we do not have materials in Kenya with the kind of textile industry we have? Why would the government put budget resources to revive Rivatex and provide jobs in Eldoret then proceed like fools the following day to import police uniforms from Turkey or China? We will not import uniforms,” Dr Matiang’i said in a past interview.
For Dr Matiangi, the fight over the change of the uniform was all about money, and the millions of shillings at the centre of the tender.
“IG Mutyambai rejected a bid to purchase police boots for Sh13,000 that were being sold by the politicians’ friends, instead opting to buy the same boots for Sh2,900 from local manufacturers,” Dr Matiang’i said at the height of campaigns in July last year.
“Mutyambai’s problem was declining to purchase police bulletproof vests sold by your friends at $900 and opting to buy the same directly from manufacturers at a cost of only $90,” he added.
The former Internal CS then accused the disgruntled ‘tenderpreneurs’ of targeting the Inspector General as a result of their frustrations.
The new uniforms order was, however, met with criticism and protests from officers that the materials were of very low quality, which has been compounded by shortages.
Read: Improving police welfare key to national security
The shortage has seen officers having to purchase the uniforms from their own pockets.
[SIZE=6]Government funded[/SIZE]
This week, President Ruto made yet another key directive on the uniforms, asking Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome to ensure all officers are clothed by the government.
“I do not expect what has been happening in the past that officers are asked to buy uniforms using their own money,” Dr Ruto said.
“It is my expectation that these officers will be given uniforms by the Government of Kenya. I expect that the uniform that these men and women will be given will be of the quality that meets the required standards so that they execute security functions in the Republic of Kenya,” he added.
The Ruto administration has promised to review police uniforms as part of its campaign pledges to police officers.
The Head of State has constituted a 23-man task force that will review the uniforms and, if the latest directive is anything to go by, officers are likely to get new uniforms within the next 90 days.
Besides colour change, the new police uniforms could see the introduction of policing gadgets, including body cameras.
[SIZE=7]Ruto has reversed 20 key Uhuru policies since taking over[/SIZE]
Ruto has reversed yet another key policy by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, returning the control of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) to the Ministry of Agriculture from that of Defence.
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In an Executive Order released on Monday, President Ruto reverted the KMC back to the Agriculture Ministry, bringing to an end the debate on civilian institutions being managed by disciplined forces.
Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi yesterday told the Saturday Nation that although the firm has been brought back to his ministry, he will continue working with the military for efficiency.
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“The military is part of the Kenyan government and we must respect the good work they have done. KDF management has done so well and we have no fight with them, and my ministry is going to work together with our brothers and sisters in the military,” said CS Linturi.
In all, Dr Ruto has already reversed about 20 key policies, directives and projects by his predecessor.
[SIZE=6]KU land[/SIZE]
Recently, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua revealed land allocated to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centers for Disease Control will be given back to Kenyatta University.
Read: Prof Paul Wainaina has the last laugh in Kenyatta University land controversy
The government has also reinstated Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Paul Wainaina and the university’s council. Prof Wainaina had been sacked in August 2022 after refusing to surrender 410 acres of the university’s land to the government for redevelopment and allocation to squatters.
The President started stamping his authority once he was sworn in, with his first act in office being the appointment of the six judges rejected by President Kenyatta over alleged integrity issues. He also committed to increasing funding to the Judiciary, which had been starved of funds by the previous regime, to the tune of Sh3 billion annually for five years.
Next in line was reverting port operations and cargo clearance to the port of Mombasa.
Read: KPA starts return of port services to Mombasa following Ruto order
The President has also reverted Kenya Railways and the Kenya Ports Authority to the Transport Ministry and Kenya Pipeline Company to the Energy ministry.
[SIZE=6]Kazi Mtaani[/SIZE]
The Kazi Mtaani programme was abolished by the President last month. He said the youth will instead be engaged in the affordable housing project.
Yesterday, United Democratic Alliance chairperson Johnson Muthama defended President Ruto’s move, arguing that this is normal globally whenever there is a change of guard.
Read: President Ruto abolishes Uhuru pet project Kazi Mtaani
“In America, they say change of regime and when it takes place, there is an examination of things which had been done, strategic plans laid out by the previous regime and try to make corrections based on what should be done,” Mr Muthama told the Nation.
Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni and his deputy Joshua Kutuny said Dr Ruto’s move is hardly surprising.
“If he (President Ruto) respected the former President as he claims, he would not reverse policies or projects of the former administration,” said Mr Kioni.
Mr Kutuny added: “He has promises he made and he was contradicting those of Uhuru and he rode on that to clinch power, therefore we expect that he will annul most of Uhuru agenda and programmes to please his supporters. It’s wait-and-see if it will help him achieve what he promised people.”
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