NAIROBI, Kenya-Former Chief Justice David Maraga has given President William Ruto seven days to release and publish the complete, unedited report of the National Taskforce on Police Reforms, warning that he will make the document public himself if the deadline is ignored.
In a letter dated Tuesday, August 18, 2026, Maraga said the report was submitted to Ruto on November 16, 2023, after the taskforce completed its work on reforms affecting the National Police Service and Kenya Prisons Service.
Maraga chaired the taskforce after it was appointed by Ruto in December 2022 to examine institutional challenges, police welfare and reforms needed to improve service delivery.
Maraga demands full report
Maraga said the report was prepared using public resources and argued that Kenyans therefore have a right to access it under Article 35 of the Constitution, which provides for access to information.
“I demand that you immediately release and publish the complete and unedited Taskforce Report within Seven (7) days, failing which I will myself release it,” Maraga said in the letter.
He questioned why the recommendations had not been fully made public more than two years after the report was handed to the President.
Raises concerns over policing
The former Chief Justice linked his demand to what he described as increasing cases of political violence, goonism and partisan policing.
He cited recent incidents in Homa Bay, Keumbu and Ol Kalou, as well as reported violence at churches in Kisumu, Nairobi and Witima.
Maraga warned that Kenya risked returning to a period when political violence and police abuses caused significant harm to the country.
“This is a road the country has travelled before at terrible cost. It must not travel it again,” he said.
Ruto had promised police reforms
The demand comes after the Ruto administration adopted recommendations from the Maraga-led taskforce as part of broader reforms of the National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service and National Youth Service.
In September 2024, Ruto said the reforms were intended to transform the security services into institutions defined by professionalism, efficiency and respect for the rule of law.
The President said at the time that the reforms should help move policing away from practices characterised by “extrajudicial illegality, impunity, and excesses” towards greater adherence to due process and stronger relations with communities.
Seven-day deadline
Maraga’s latest intervention now places the President under a seven-day deadline to publish the full report.
If Ruto does not comply, the former Chief Justice has said he will release the report himself.
The demand comes amid renewed public debate over police accountability and the conduct of security agencies following a series of politically charged incidents across the country.
