• This comes after the RC last week ordered all police officers to dig into their pockets to secure the new uniforms.
• Yakub warned of disciplinary action against officers who would report to work this week in the old attire.
Nairobi Regional Commander Rashid Yakub has dismissed claims that there exists bad blood between him and his juniors over the new police uniforms.
Yakub on Wednesday told the Star that reports that he had fallen off with his juniors are mere allegations.
The police boss all he wants is to see officers committed and dedicated to service and nothing short of that.
This comes after the RC last week ordered all police officers to dig into their pockets to secure the new uniforms.
Yakub warned of disciplinary action against officers who would report to work this week in the old attire.
“All officers must be in the new medium blue uniform, except for the formed-up units who have their own order of dressing. In addition, all officers are cautioned against mixing uniforms or wearing non-uniform items alongside the uniform. Failure to comply with these instructions will attract serious disciplinary action,” Yakub said.
Yakub’s order is said to have caused jitters in the service, particularly among the officers who are yet to receive their batches since the distribution started in late 2018.
The Star has since established that several officers were turned away from their stations as they were yet to secure the uniform.
The junior officers have since claimed their superiors are forcing them to incur unnecessary expenditures.
Those who spoke to Star said it is unfair for the government to order them to secure uniforms for themselves yet they are not given an allowance to cater for the same.
“We have been given contacts of some civilian tailors who have been approved to stitch the new uniforms at our cost. This is unfair because we have not been given allowances for them. It’s the government’s responsibility,” one of the officers said.
It is said that the civilian tailors are charging between Sh3,000 and Sh5,000 a pair.
But in his defence, Yakub said the directive is not targeting anyone.
“It is common that some people will always be opposed to any change. The noise you are hearing about the blue uniform for the last few days is no different but we are not ceding ground, all officers must put on the blue uniform,” he said.
Yakub said over two years down the line all the officers are supposed to have secured at least one or two pairs.
“We want to put an end to a culture where officers are just wearing anything in the name of uniform. In fact, we have directed that no officer should wear the old jacket on the new uniform,” he said.
The police boss said, fortunately, those complaining have not raised issues of harassment on their personality.
“I have not come to Nairobi for a show, I must perform and for me to perform, my juniors must also perform,” he said.
Yakub said there has been a culture where some officers have just been lazying around while others hide from discharging their duties.
“If I wake up early and report to work, why should an officer not report to their station? we must embrace a culture of being honest to our duties. If you are in charge of traffic, clear the jam and not just about collecting Sh50 as a bribe if you should be on patrol please do so and don’t hide,” he said.
Yakub said the Nairobi region cannot be recording incidences of crime when hundreds of officers are just roaming in the streets while others hide.
On a positive note, Yakub said he was happy that the officers had done a commendable job.
Yakub said for the last two months, no major incident had been reported apart from small muggings.