Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i/HANDOUTJubilee deputy party leader Fred Matiang'i has dismissed the new police uniforms as a money-making scheme for big guns in government.
He accused some top government officials of benefiting from such schemes, terming as suspect the move to give the lucrative tender to a private player.
Matiang'i argued that public institutions like the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Kenya Police Service (KPS) could have enabled the government to spend less.
"Some things are shameful. We have the capacity through the NYS, KPS, and other institutions to make the uniforms, and we would be promoting local industries by procuring materials from local producers," he said during a morning interview on Inooro FM.
The government spent Sh2.5 billion to procure the new police uniforms that were unveiled last week during a National Police Service (NPS) passing-out parade at Kiganjo, Nyeri county.
"When you start hearing that top leaders created a company in 2024 and it is supplying uniforms in 2026, you do not need a degree to know what is happening there. It is theft of public money," Matiang'i said.
The former CS defended the 2018 change of police uniforms under his watch, saying he stood firm against ‘cartels’ who wanted to make a killing from the tender.
The presidential hopeful also said he resisted persistent push for further change of uniforms when he was at the helm of the security docket.
He revealed some senior officers presented higher prices for items that could be obtained at a cheaper price locally.
"You cannot do business with the government because of conflict of interest. We had so many problems securing tenders while in government," Matiang'i said.
"We found someone who was awarded a tender because they were friends with those in power to bring in police boots for Sh13,900 per pair. If you look for police boots locally, a pair is about Sh4,000."
"Some other time we had a squabble with some people saying that we buy bulletproof vests at $900 (Sh116,505). We then went for a government-to-government arrangement, and we saw the price was $90 (Sh11,650)."
However, NPS spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga clarified the uniforms are being manufactured by Bedi Investments Limited, which was lawfully awarded the contract by the service.
He said the decision to change the General Duty uniform preceded the procurement process and formed part of the wider police reform programme considered by the Maraga Task Force on Police Reforms, chaired by former Chief Justice David Maraga.
According to Nyaga, police officers expressed dissatisfaction with the existing uniform during consultations and preferred a change.
The task force subsequently recommended reverting to the previous uniform colours.
“The change was therefore neither sudden nor arbitrary, but one of several measures arising from the broader police reform pro
Following the reform process, the Kenya Police Service Uniform Committee worked with the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) to develop standards for the new uniform.
Nyaga said four Kenyan textile manufacturers with previous experience supplying police uniform material were invited to submit samples as part of efforts to support local manufacturing under the Buy Kenya, Build Kenya initiative.
He said the manufacturers were Bedi Investments Limited, Rivatex East Africa Limited, Thika Textile Mills Limited, and Sunflag Textiles & Knitwear Mills.
