ADVERT 
ADVERTKenya is preparing to dress its police officers in a new uniform once again — and the move has opened an uncomfortable conversation about priorities, procurement, accountability and the unfinished business of police reform.
The Standard has reported that billions of shillings are expected to be spent clothing officers in the new outfit, eight years after the National Police Service introduced the deep-blue uniform. The newspaper has also raised questions about the company involved in supplying the new attire and the amounts at stake.
The scale of the proposed expenditure makes the issue bigger than a change of colour or design. It raises a fundamental public-interest question: is Kenya getting value for money, and was the procurement process sufficiently transparent and competitive?
The answer matters because police uniforms are not simply clothing. They are publicly funded government assets, closely linked to the identity, authority and security functions of the National Police Service.
At the same time, criticism of the new uniforms should not obscure a legitimate operational problem: many police officers have reportedly gone for extended periods without adequate official clothing.
ADVERTA March 2026 report documented cases of officers purchasing uniforms from private tailors, while some junior officers were reportedly working in faded and worn-out attire. One senior officer in Mombasa even became involved in a dispute after paying Sh4,200 to a tailor for a police uniform.
That raises an important distinction.
There is a credible case for supplying police officers with properly fitting, durable and secure uniforms. The harder question is whether replacing an existing national uniform only a few years after its introduction is the most economical and strategically justified way of solving the problem.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja says the new attire is not an arbitrary fashion exercise. He has explained that the change follows a 2023 public-participation exercise in which police officers rejected the deep navy-blue uniform and expressed preferences for another design. The new outfit is based on a design that had previously been approved.
More than 6,000 recruits graduating at the Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo are expected to be among the first to wear it, with the wider rollout to General Duty officers beginning from August 31. Administration Police and General Service Unit officers are not immediately affected.
From the police command’s perspective, therefore, there is a practical justification: standardised clothing, improved identification, better fitting uniforms and improved officer morale.
Kanja has described the new outfit as a potential “force multiplier” because of its expected effect on morale.
But morale alone cannot answer the financial question.
The procurement trail is where scrutiny should begin
Kenya’s Constitution does not give public agencies a blank cheque when purchasing goods.
Article 227 requires public procurement to operate through a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act reinforces those requirements and expressly includes maximisation of value for money among the guiding principles.
Open tendering is the preferred procurement method under the law, although alternative procedures can be used where the statutory conditions are satisfied.
That means the public is entitled to ask several straightforward questions.
What is the total contract value?
Who won the contract?
How many uniforms are being procured?
What is the unit price of a complete uniform kit?
What exactly is included in the kit — shirt, trousers, sweater, boots, belt, headgear, insignia and other accessories?
How many companies submitted bids?
What were the evaluation criteria?
Was the winning bid the lowest evaluated price or did it win on another legally permissible basis?
Was the contract subjected to independent scrutiny and value-for-money assessment?
And perhaps most importantly: what happened to the uniforms purchased during the previous national rollout?
These are not hostile questions. They are precisely the questions that should accompany a procurement running into billions of shillings.
The procurement law requires tender documents to provide enough information to facilitate fair competition and requires objective, quantifiable evaluation criteria taking into account price, quality, time and service.
If the procurement has been conducted properly, these questions should have documentary answers.
Kenya has been here before
The country’s previous police-uniform exercise offers a cautionary history.
In 2018, the government introduced the Persian-blue uniform. The National Youth Service was brought into the production process, with officials arguing that local manufacture would reduce costs and promote Kenya’s textile industry. The initial target involved about 60,000 General Duty officers.
The government subsequently turned to Rivatex for production of fabric, which was to be supplied to the NYS for stitching. Contemporary reports said about 60,000 metres of fabric were required.
But the process was not without controversy.
In 2019, the Auditor-General raised questions over procurement of medium-blue textile material for police uniforms. Two suppliers were paid Sh23.4 million each. The audit raised concerns over documentation of price negotiations, inspection and acceptance certificates and evidence that the procurement complied with procurement law. The auditors said they could not confirm whether the pricing was competitive.
Parliamentary scrutiny subsequently examined a Sh46.8 million payment associated with police-uniform textile procurement. The audit concerns included missing supporting documentation and uncertainty over whether the procurement complied with procurement law and whether the pricing was competitive.
Those historical findings do not prove wrongdoing in the current procurement.
But they demonstrate why today’s exercise deserves unusually strong transparency.
The real cost is bigger than the headline price
A uniform replacement programme involves more than paying a supplier.
There are logistics, storage, distribution, sizing, replacement of damaged items, disposal or retention of old stock, insignia, identification markings and future maintenance.
Kenya’s National Police Service Standing Orders make clear that police uniforms and equipment are government property and prescribe detailed rules governing their issue, maintenance, return and disposal. They also provide for a police uniform maintenance allowance.
This creates another important accountability question:
What will happen to usable stocks of the current uniform?
If thousands of serviceable uniforms remain in stores, replacing them represents a potential economic loss unless there is a clear plan for continued use, redeployment or lawful disposal.
Conversely, if the existing stock is worn out, insufficient or unsuitable for operational purposes, the National Police Service should be able to demonstrate that through inventory and condition assessments.
That evidence would transform the debate from political speculation into an evidence-based assessment.
There is also a security dimension
Police uniforms are different from ordinary government clothing.
They carry official insignia and confer an appearance of state authority. Kenya has previously experienced concerns over unauthorised manufacture and acquisition of police attire.
A 2020 parliamentary debate warned that ordinary retailers were making police uniforms, raising fears that criminals could obtain official-looking attire.
More recently, the Centre for Litigation Trust raised similar security concerns after reports of officers obtaining uniforms from private tailors, arguing that uncontrolled manufacture could facilitate counterfeiting and misuse of police clothing.
The new procurement therefore has to achieve two objectives simultaneously: value for money and security integrity.
The cheapest uniform is not necessarily the best uniform if its fabric is poor, identification features are easily replicated or its durability is inadequate.
Equally, a premium-priced uniform cannot simply be justified by invoking quality without independently verifiable specifications and testing.
The timing deserves scrutiny — but not speculation
The timing of the rollout is another issue that will inevitably attract public attention.
The new uniform is being introduced in August 2026, with a General Election approaching in 2027. At almost the same time, debate over deeper police reforms has intensified.
Retired Chief Justice David Maraga, who chaired the National Taskforce on Police Reforms, has demanded the release of the taskforce’s complete report submitted in November 2023. Citizen Digital reported that the report contains recommendations touching on the constitutional independence of the police, brutality and impunity.
That juxtaposition has created a politically charged narrative: a government capable of moving a major uniform programme while broader police-reform recommendations remain unresolved.
But the two issues should not be conflated without evidence.
A uniform procurement is not, by itself, evidence of political manipulation.
Nor does the existence of unresolved police-reform questions automatically invalidate the operational need to clothe officers.
The proper question is whether government is pursuing both institutional reform and basic operational requirements — and whether scarce public resources are being allocated rationally between them.
What Kenyans should demand
Rather than reducing the debate to “uniform versus no uniform”, Kenya should demand transparency at every stage of the procurement.
The National Police Service and Interior Ministry should publish, subject to legitimate national-security exemptions, the procurement framework, quantities, specifications, contract value, supplier details, evaluation methodology and delivery schedule.
They should also disclose the estimated cost per complete uniform kit.
If the contract is worth billions, Kenyans should know precisely why.
If there was a competitive tender, the government should have no difficulty demonstrating that.
If a restricted, direct or otherwise alternative procurement method was used, the legal basis should be disclosed.
If the supplier has a history of government contracts, that should be part of the public record.
And if the supplier is connected to politically exposed persons or individuals with interests in government procurement, the relevant conflict-of-interest safeguards should be demonstrated rather than left to speculation.
The law already provides a framework for this. Kenya’s procurement system is designed to make public purchasing competitive, transparent and value-driven.
The uniform is not the police service
There is a deeper issue beneath the controversy.
Kenya does need a professional, properly equipped and properly dressed police service. Officers should not be forced to buy essential official clothing from private tailors or work in visibly worn-out uniforms.
But professionalism cannot be stitched into a shirt.
It cannot be created by changing the colour of trousers.
It cannot be purchased through a tender.
Public confidence in the police ultimately rests on conduct: respect for the Constitution, accountability, competence, impartial enforcement of the law, protection of citizens and consequences for misconduct.
That is why the most important question about the new uniform is not whether it is attractive.
It is whether the money behind it is being spent transparently, competitively and economically — and whether the investment forms part of a much larger effort to build a police service that Kenyans can trust.
The Standard’s investigation has therefore opened an important door. But the next step should not be political outrage or premature accusations of corruption.
It should be documentation.
Let the contracts speak.
Let the tender records speak.
Let the Auditor-General speak.
Let the procurement regulator speak.
And let the National Police Service explain, in clear figures, how billions of shillings are being converted into uniforms — and why this particular expenditure represents the best value for the Kenyan taxpayer.
Until those questions are answered, the new uniform will remain more than a change of attire.
It will remain a test of whether Kenya has finally learned that public procurement is not merely about buying things — it is about accounting for every shilling used to buy them.
