President William Ruto has reversed yet another key policy decision made by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta by allowing police officers to work in their old uniform.
According to the government, the move will address shortfalls in the distribution of the royal blue uniforms introduced in 2019. Apart from Nairobi where officers were forced to sew their own royal blue uniforms, the rest across the country still wear the old outfits.
The government now says, every officer can wear their old uniforms without fear of being victimised.
“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,” National Police Service Spokesperson Resila Onyango has told the Daily Nation.
Apart from being unavailable nationally, the royal blue uniforms have been unpopular with Kenyans and even the police officers themselves.
During the campaigns Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua promised to revisit the matter while likening the uniforms to those worn by the Women’s Guild.
“You have suffered so much in the hands of Matiang’i and Kibicho. Even the new blue uniform that you don’t want will be revoked and we return to the old one. The blue one will be left for the PCEA church. It is the uniform of the women’s guild,” he said at the time.