Former Chief Justice David Maraga has put President William Ruto under renewed pressure over Kenya’s police reforms, warning that the government must go beyond changing uniforms and implement measures to secure the independence and accountability of the National Police Service.
Maraga’s warning came on Monday after he made public a report by the presidential task force on police, prisons and National Youth Service reforms that he chaired and submitted to Ruto on November 16, 2023.
The move has revived a debate over what has happened to the task force’s recommendations and whether the most consequential changes to Kenya’s policing system will be implemented before the 2027 general election.
The new police uniform has become the most visible part of the reform debate after Ruto unveiled the General Duty uniform at the National Police College in Kiganjo, Nyeri County, on August 28.
But Maraga said changing the uniform was only one of more than 200 recommendations concerning the police and was not the most urgent reform facing the service.
Independence at the centre
At the centre of Maraga’s criticism is the constitutional independence of the National Police Service.
He said the task force recommended changes intended to prevent political interference in policing, including reforms to the appointment and oversight of senior officers.
“The National Police Service must be independent,” Maraga said, arguing that Kenya needed to end what he described as the “state capture” of the security system.
He also linked the issue to Kenya’s post-election history, warning against a return to partisan policing.
“A partisan police force was a root cause of the slaughter of 2007/2008,” Maraga said, referring to the violence that followed the disputed 2007 presidential election.
His warning carries particular political significance as Kenya moves towards the 2027 election, when the neutrality and conduct of security agencies are likely to attract increased scrutiny.
Maraga said the task force had recommended, among other measures, changes to the National Police Service Act and fresh vetting and appointment of some senior officers. He said some of those recommendations had not been implemented.
Uniform debate widens
The dispute over the new uniform has given the wider reform debate a highly visible focus.
Maraga said the uniform was among the task force’s recommendations but questioned the transparency of its implementation, alleging that the procurement process had been affected by corruption and a lack of openness.
Those allegations have not been established as fact.
The National Police Service has rejected reports linking Nalitex Limited to the tender, saying the company did not participate in the procurement process and that Bedi Investments Limited was awarded the contract. The NPS said the decision to change the uniform preceded procurement and formed part of the wider reform programme.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has also defended the change, saying the uniform was recommended by the task force and followed consultations involving police officers and the public. He has cautioned against treating the uniform as a substitute for the broader reform programme.
That distinction is important.
The government can point to the uniform as one recommendation that has now been implemented, while Maraga is demanding progress on the institutional recommendations that affect police leadership, accountability and independence.
Ruto’s reform test
For Ruto, the renewed dispute presents a test of how his administration explains its record on police reform.
The government has previously said it was working on a framework to implement the task force’s recommendations. The task force covered not only the police but also the Kenya Prisons Service and National Youth Service.
Maraga’s latest intervention, however, suggests that he believes implementation has fallen short of the recommendations contained in the report.
The former Chief Justice has also raised questions about the tenure of Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin, arguing that their continued service beyond the mandatory retirement age requires compliance with the law.
Those are Maraga’s claims and have not been established by a court.
The disagreement therefore extends beyond uniforms to the composition and independence of the police leadership.
That makes the release of the report more significant than the uniform controversy alone.
The document allows the public to examine the recommendations directly and assess the government’s response against what the task force proposed.
2027 raises stakes
The timing of the dispute gives the police reform debate an added political dimension.
Kenya’s experience after the 2007 election remains a central reference point whenever questions about police neutrality arise. Maraga has argued that the constitutional safeguards created after that crisis were intended to prevent security institutions from becoming instruments of political power.
His concern is that those safeguards will remain ineffective unless the institutional reforms are implemented.
For Ruto, the challenge is to demonstrate what has been implemented, what remains outstanding and why.
The government can point to the new uniform as evidence of progress on at least one task force recommendation. Maraga’s release of the report, however, shifts attention to the wider reform agenda, including police independence, leadership, accountability and oversight.
That is likely to become increasingly important as the 2027 election approaches.
The immediate political question is therefore not simply why Kenya has a new police uniform.
It is whether the government will implement the deeper police reforms that Maraga says are necessary to ensure the National Police Service remains independent and accountable under the Constitution.
