Murkomen: Chiefs to receive pay rise, firearms training in fresh welfare reforms

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen shares a hearty moment with chiefs. (Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen/X)

By Maureen Kinyanjui
Saturday, August 16, 2025

Murkomen said all 8,102 chiefs will undergo a three-week paralegal and security management programme, with the first batch of 1,000 already identified.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Friday announced a fresh reform plan targeting chiefs and assistant chiefs, offering them promotions, pay adjustments, training, and expanded security roles. The package also includes new uniforms, motorcycles and vehicles.

Murkomen said all 8,102 chiefs will undergo a three-week paralegal and security management programme, with the first batch of 1,000 already identified. For some administrators, this will be their first formal training in over 25 years.

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A group of chiefs drawn from North Eastern and Rift Valley will receive paramilitary instruction, be enrolled as National Police Reservists, and later issued with firearms after completing advanced courses. The training also covers areas such as crime prevention, land dispute resolution, environmental conservation, and inter-agency cooperation.

“We have started with your training, which will be followed immediately by promotions. Welfare matters will be addressed,” Murkomen said, noting that chiefs are “critical to the country’s governance and security architecture.”

The CS faulted past governments for neglecting the training needs of chiefs, adding that President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic model requires empowered grassroots administrators to succeed.

“As a government, we are committed to upgrading the offices and the living conditions of these chiefs so that when citizens come to be served, they can feel they are in the Office of the President,” Murkomen added.

During the event, he also dispatched thousands of new uniform sets to counties, launched standard procedures to guide working relations between grassroots officers and the National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAPU), and pledged to strengthen the government’s vehicle-leasing programme. In addition, several chiefs will now receive motorcycles for field duties.

“I was surprised that chiefs and assistant chiefs are given standard sizes of shoes ... as well as uniforms without measurements. We will be deliberate and we will begin taking measurements and ensure we distribute them to the counties instead of you travelling to Nairobi,” he said.

This year alone, 87 chiefs and 58 assistant chiefs have been promoted, and Murkomen assured that those completing the new course will be granted “immediate” promotions in line with Public Service Commission regulations.

The new measures build on recent steps that restored police support to chiefs through the Ngapu unit, headed by Assistant Inspector-General Charles Mutuma. The unit currently has 6,000 officers from the Administration Police and is set to expand to 19,000 through phased recruitment based on security needs across regions.

The decision reversed a 2018 policy that removed chiefs from direct command of police units, a move critics argued weakened grassroots enforcement. President Ruto directed its restoration, saying the lack of police backing had left chiefs struggling to tackle crime, illicit alcohol, and inter-community violence.