Ruto Defends Police Uniform Reform as Maraga Report Adds to the Debate
September 2026
President William Ruto defended his government’s police uniform reform on Friday, September 4, telling officers and the public that the new attire is one piece of a much bigger plan to modernise the National Police Service. He spoke at the National Police College in Embakasi, Nairobi, during a passing-out parade for Administration Police recruits.
Ruto said the rollout ties into wider work on officer welfare, housing, training, equipment and technology. He added that a change of clothing alone cannot fix policing, arguing that professional pride still matters for a disciplined, modern service.
New Uniform Rollout Details
The new General Duty outfit first appeared at a passing-out parade in Kiganjo, Nyeri County, on August 28, replacing the deep navy-blue attire introduced under former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018. Eastleigh Voice reports that the redesign brings sky-blue shirts, dark-blue trousers and berets, with the Kenyan flag replacing the old NPS colour scheme on the sleeve.
Inspector-General Douglas Kanja has defended the switch as a response to a 2023 public participation exercise in which officers reportedly preferred a different look to the navy-blue uniform, Capital FM’s report notes. The rollout to General Duty officers began progressively from August 31.
Maraga Taskforce Findings
The timing has drawn attention back to the National Taskforce on Police Reforms, chaired by retired Chief Justice David Maraga, which handed its report to Ruto on November 16, 2023. That report only became public in August 2026, and per People Daily’s coverage, it recommended that police revert to their earlier uniform for three years while a properly vetted new design was developed.
The taskforce also called for genuine public and police participation in any redesign, tighter approval and quality control, and more dependable systems for supplying and distributing uniforms. Maraga had reportedly given the government a seven-day ultimatum in mid-August to release the full report or he would publish it himself, as Capital FM first reported.
Cost And Public Reaction
Critics have questioned why the uniform change moved quickly while broader reforms tied to police accountability and past allegations of abuse have lagged, a tension allAfrica’s republished Capital FM piece lays out plainly. Ruto has pushed back on suggestions that the spending was misplaced, insisting the public has every right to question the money involved.
“We welcome scrutiny of every decision and every shilling spent,” Ruto said, framing accountability as resting on facts rather than assumption. He has previously said, in December 2024, that the government planned to spend Ksh 28 billion over two years on modernising the police service, covering equipment, digitisation and officer housing.
Ghafla’s coverage of the same Embakasi speech quotes Ruto describing accountability as a constitutional obligation that must be grounded in evidence. Government officials maintain that the NPS carried out consultations with both serving officers and the public before settling on the current design, though critics say the uniform question has overshadowed the accountability reforms the Maraga taskforce actually prioritised.
What This Means Nationally
For ordinary Kenyans, the dispute is less about fabric and colour than about whether the government follows through on the harder parts of police reform, the sections dealing with training, oversight and officer conduct rather than appearance. The Maraga report’s three-year uniform freeze recommendation was never adopted, and it remains unclear whether its other proposals on quality control and public participation will fare any better.
With the report now public and Maraga having pushed hard for its release, the pressure sits with Ruto’s government to show whether the rest of the taskforce’s recommendations get the same swift attention the uniform did, or whether they gather dust the way earlier reform pledges reportedly have.
