Police have rolled out the new uniform to be adopted by the members of the Kenya Police.
This attracted a mixture of reactions online when Kenyans saw the new set of uniforms.
While some welcomed the new changes others criticized the same.
The new set of navy blue uniforms will have the name of the officer wearing it and the force number embroidered on them.
Officials said this is part of plans to roll out the new set of uniforms.
Female police officers will have both trousers and skirts.
This is the latest move by authorities to change the uniform after the current one was adopted in 2018 in changes.
This will cost millions of shillings.
A task force on police reforms led by the retired Chief Justice David Maraga had recommended in its report released last month that the service revert to the old blue uniform.
The team said the Cabinet Secretary for Defence, in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, should develop and propose legislation for the establishment of a National Uniforms Committee.
They proposed the committee be made of representatives from the Disciplined and Security Services whose mandate will be to approve standards, colours and qualities of uniforms for use by each Service.
“This recommendation flows from the numerous complaints voiced on the quality and supply of uniforms to the members of the three services,” the team said.
“As regards the NPS uniforms, in line with the overwhelming views of the public, police officers themselves, and the leadership of NPS, the taskforce recommends that the NPS reverts to its old uniform for a period of three years, during which a process of designing a new uniform should be commenced in accordance with the recommendations in this Report.”
“The Committee should also address the misuse of uniforms by the public,” the report says.
The new uniform was first unveiled in February this year when Inspector General of police Japhet Koome donned it. The previous government phased out the iconic blue police uniform, which had been in use for decades.
The redesign was intended to increase the visibility of officers and create uniformity across all ranks during the merger of the Administrative Police and the Kenya Police Service.
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