NAIROBI, Kenya – Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has raised the alarm over deep budget cuts to the National Police Service (NPS), warning that the Sh40.96 billion slash could paralyse critical operations and undermine national security at a time when internal threats are on the rise.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Security Committee on Thursday, Kanja said the cuts disproportionately target essential areas such as ammunition procurement, police uniforms, recruitment, mobility, and the long-stalled modernisation of law enforcement.
“Even though the NPS recurrent expenditure has increased, budget cuts have been effected in areas which are core to police operations,” Kanja told lawmakers. “Further cuts on development have affected very critical projects.”
According to the 2025/26 budget estimates before Parliament, the NPS has been allocated Sh125.3 billion.
However, Sh102.5 billion—over 82 percent of the total—is earmarked for salaries and medical insurance.
This leaves a limited budget for operational needs and development projects.
Kanja said the development cuts jeopardise plans to recruit 10,000 police constables by December.
The initial proposal of Sh6.4 billion was trimmed to Sh2.9 billion, leaving a shortfall of Sh3.5 billion.
Similarly, funding for new uniforms was cut from Sh3.83 billion to Sh1.34 billion.
Security operations—initially budgeted at Sh14.42 billion—were slashed by more than half to Sh6.4 billion.
The budget for essential supplies such as ammunition and equipment was reduced by nearly Sh490 million, while another Sh306 million was shaved off allocations for fuel and lubricants, directly affecting police mobility.
“These budget cuts will cripple our capacity,” Kanja warned. “Police operations require constant mobility.”
Even routine vehicle maintenance took a hit, with a Sh111.4 million reduction. “This will severely affect the mobility of officers across 1,209 police stations,” Kanja added.
Key Projects Stall Amid Rising Insecurity
Among the most affected development projects is the long-awaited police hospital at Mbagathi, which now faces indefinite delays.
Plans to procure modern crowd and riot control equipment ahead of the 2027 general elections have also been shelved due to a Sh200 million budget cut.
The country’s struggling forensic infrastructure is another casualty.
Lawmakers expressed outrage after it emerged that the national forensic laboratory—once touted as a flagship crime-fighting tool—received only Sh125 million of the Sh1.5 billion requested.
Sotik MP Francis Sigei slammed the move: “We know this facility can transform investigations and even generate revenue, but we are simply not investing in it seriously.”
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) academy also saw its refurbishment budget gutted, with only Sh10 million approved out of a Sh155 million request.
Questions Over Haiti Deployment
Mount Elgon MP and committee chair Fred Kapondi questioned the government’s priorities after it emerged that Sh2.8 billion was allocated for the Multi-National Security Support Mission (MNSSM) in Haiti—leaving only Sh21.3 billion for local operations.
The committee has urged the NPS to reconsider its priorities and suspend non-essential development projects.
But Kanja pushed back, saying the proposed cuts could jeopardise national safety.
“At a time when internal security threats are escalating, we cannot afford to underfund the police,” he said.
