President Ruto reverse yet another Uhuru policy directive
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Ruto reverses yet another Uhuru policy on police uniforms as he stamps his authority at the presidency
Ruto reverses yet another Uhuru policy on police uniforms as he stamps his authority at the presidency.
The administration of President William Ruto has reversed yet another significant policy choice made by his predecessor by allowing the police to wear uniforms that were phased out by the previous administration of President Uhuru Kenyatta four years ago.
The widespread unpopular, all-royal blue uniforms were in short supply and of poor quality, which is why the previous outfits were brought back.
Ruto’s administration is also working on 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.
The internal directive will see general duty Kenya Police Service (KPS) officers operating with two sets of uniforms, the old and the new.
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It is anticipated that the arrangement of using two sets of uniforms concurrently for general duty assignments would last until a task force on police reforms appointed by President Ruto makes its final recommendations regarding which uniforms will remain in use.
In an interview with Saturday Nation, National Police Service spokesperson Dr. Resila Onyango said 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.
“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’.
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).
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