New police units raise queries with 20 months left to General Election

President William Ruto during the New Year's Eve dinner at Eldoret State Lodge. [PCS]

The setting up of new police units by President William Ruto with only a year left to the general election has come under sharp focus even as questions over the duplication of roles in security agencies abound.

In the recent past, Ruto has set up an anti-narcotics police unit and the National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAPU) which has seen the return of the all-powerful chiefs, even as a plan for the establishment of a digital intelligence unit to police the abuse of the digital space is waiting in the wings.

Details on the operationalization of some of these units are scarce, but pundits have criticized the formation of these outfits as a political power play meant to galvanize the masses ahead of the polls.

During his New Year’s speech, President William Ruto announced the establishment of a strengthened anti-narcotics unit within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)- with operational capacity comparable to the anti-terrorism police unit- to combat alcohol and drug abuse, which Ruto said had afflicted five million Kenyans.  

“The unit will operate as a permanent multi-agency formation, working closely with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the National Intelligence Service, border management agencies, county governments, and international partners,” said Ruto.

To support this expansion, the unit’s strength will be boosted from the current 200 to 700 officers through new recruitment and redeployment, all trained and equipped for national operations against high-level traffickers, financiers, and organized criminal networks.

A Presidential report tabled before Parliament also indicates that the government is at an advanced stage of introducing a new unit to spy on Kenyans online and whose establishment will come complete with rapid response protocols and a legal framework for digital policing.

The annual report on the State national security, covering the period from September1,2024 to August 2025 notes that the measures are to enhance law enforcement efforts to curtails what the government terms as the growing abuse of social media platforms.

Back in January, the Government also introduced the National Government Administration police Unit (NGAPU) tasked with enhancing security at the grass roots and which made sure that chiefs get access to police support.

Security analyst Erick Okeyo termed the developments a well-calculated strategy by the Kenya Kwanza administration to mobilize and simultaneously intimidate the masses ahead of the next elections.

“Ruto is using very sensitive issues to try and attempt to mobilise votes for 2027…In his New Year's address, Ruto was not focusing on the safety of Kenyans but was focusing on the re-election plan because the DCI which is itself a formation of the National Police Service has the anti-narcotics unit and so I didn't expect the president to be talking about creating an anti-narcotics unit that already exists,” said Okeyo.

He added: “The creation of these units is not in the purview of the President but the Inspector General of police who ought to go to the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) which is chaired by the head of public service and not the president, and then ask for an expanded purview of narcotics .”

While claiming that the Head of State was meddling in the affairs of independent institutions, he called for the deliberate strengthening of existing police institutions instead of the formation of new units.

“For the first time in the history of this country you saw all chiefs and assistant chiefs treated to lunch at statehouse and and asked to to support the president's re-election for them to be promoted… so if in close succession you now give them the police- putting in mind that chiefs are in charge of a location which has a polling station- it's very scary,” he remarked.

History and Governance professor Macharia Munene also termed the formation of police units a political move that could be influenced by global interests.

“Those things are political and therefore the linkage to 2027 is not far-fetched. This regime is currently on survival mode and it seems that anything that it can do extend its tenure is welcome,” stated Macharia.

Adding, “Another possibility is that the formation of these units could be linked to interests by United States Government in surveillance of fraud /crime in Nairobi following the recent aid probe by the FBI in Minnesota and which was found to have Kenyan links.”

The professor also accused the Ruto regime of instituting a duplication of roles.

“Kenya is not lacking for laws that should help address all these issues but with the process being political, some jobs need to created for various people who are given specific mandates that those in office cannot or will not execute. There are very many details that are not clear but for sure Kenya is in the habit of duplication roles so as to create jobs,” he emphasized.

Security expert Enock Makanga however, came to the President’s defense by justifying the units’ formation.

“I do not agree with the notion that the President is forming these units as a political move. when you see him doing it then it means that it has been agreed on at the National Security Council or the Inspector General has advised that the police cannot be able do something alone and therefore require support,” he averred.

“I support their formation because there are things that can’t be done by any police from Kiganjo for example issue of drugs which are complicated and require special training.”

On his part, former NACADA chairperson John Mututho opined that political goodwill to implement police regulations that have been on ice for years is what was needed, as opposed to the setting up new police units.

“The duplication will only add another layer of corruption within the existing loopholes. What we need is political good will and implementations of regulations,” he observed.