General duty police officers will start wearing new uniforms from Monday, August 31, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has confirmed.
The new attire will replace the navy-blue uniform currently worn by general duty officers and will be unveiled by President William Ruto on Friday, August 28.
Ruto is expected to launch the uniforms during the passing-out parade of more than 6,000 police constables who have completed their training at the Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo, Nyeri County.
Kanja said the new uniforms will first be issued to the graduating officers before being introduced to other general duty officers across the country.
“On Friday God willing, the Head of State will commission new uniforms for the Kenya Police Service (KPS) so that we will have a national rollout of the same in the coming weeks,” Kanja said.
The Inspector General said the change followed a public participation exercise held in 2023, where police officers were asked to give their views on the uniforms they preferred.
He said officers had expressed a preference for the new design, prompting the National Police Service to return to an earlier approved uniform.
“We have been using the blue, the deep blue, so we are just reverting back to the one that was agreed upon,” Kanja said.
The new uniforms will be rolled out gradually in the coming weeks rather than being introduced to all officers at once.
Kanja said the change was also expected to boost the morale of officers, particularly those joining the service.
“This is also going to be a force multiplier in terms of morale boosting for our officers, especially the new recruits,” he said.
However, the change will not apply to all units of the National Police Service immediately.
Officers serving in the Administration Police Service and the General Service Unit (GSU) will continue wearing their current uniforms as the new attire is introduced to general duty officers.
The new uniform programme comes about three years after the 2023 public participation exercise that sought the views of police officers on the attire they wanted for their daily duties.
The rollout will begin as thousands of newly trained constables prepare to officially join the Kenya Police Service after their passing-out parade at Kiganjo.
