Matiang’i Questions Gov't’s Approach to New Police Uniforms

Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has questioned the government’s approach to procuring new police uniforms. 

In a statement on Monday, August 31, Matiang’i said that in the previous administration, they adopted a different model that relied on existing public institutions and local expertise when they changed the police uniforms. 

The Jubilee Deputy Party leader noted they used the vocational and technical capacity of the National Youth Service (NYS) together with other public institutions and private-sector players to produce the uniforms.  

“When we undertook the change of police uniforms, we deliberately chose a different approach. We looked at the capacity that already existed within government and asked how we could use it better.

“The National Youth Service, with its vocational and technical training capacity, was part of that approach. We also worked across public institutions and with the private sector to make use of existing skills, facilities and capabilities,” read the statement. 

Matiang’i said the approach helped the government to reduce costs while strengthening local capacity and creating opportunities for Kenyans. 

According to the former Interior CS, they learnt that the government does not always need to tender for some services which it has the capacity to do on its own. 

“The lesson was simple: Government does not always have to buy everything. Sometimes government already has the capacity; it simply needs to coordinate it properly,” Matiang’i stated. 

The former CS questioned whether the recent change in police uniforms is making the best possible use of resources already available in the country. 

“As we discuss another change of police uniforms today, we should ask a bigger question: Are we getting the greatest possible value from the resources available to us?” he posed. 

Further, Matiang’i said the effectiveness of leadership should not be measured by how much money a government spends, but by what it achieves with the resources at its disposal.

“The test of leadership is not how much government spends. It is what government achieves with what it spends. That is how we build a Country That Works,” he added. 

On Friday, August 28, President William Ruto unveiled new uniforms for general duty police officers. 

Under the new design, officers will wear sky-blue shirts paired with dark blue trousers and berets, alongside a new dress design for expectant female officers.

Meanwhile, the National Police Service (NPS) on Sunday dismissed reports linking the supplier of the new uniforms to a company allegedly linked to President Ruto. 

The NPS said the entity named in several of the reports, Nalitex Limited, has no connection to the process.

"We are particularly concerned that the media reports have introduced an entity referred to as Nalitex Limited into the procurement and manufacture of the new police uniform, yet the said entity does not feature anywhere in the NPS process relating to its development, selection, procurement or manufacture," NPS spokesperson, Muchiri Nyaga, said. 

The service noted that M/s Bedi’s design was approved and the company was awarded the contract to produce the new police uniforms under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.  

"For clarity, the new police uniforms are being manufactured by M/s Bedi Investments Limited, which was lawfully awarded the contract by the National Police Service," the statement said.