Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo says the current recruitment exercise by the police does not target the 2027 general election but seeks to strengthen security in Kenya and eliminate the shortage of officers the country is facing.
In a TV interview on 19 May 2026, Raymond Omollo stated that Kenya still has a ratio of police officers to citizens of less than the 1:400 recommended by the United Nations.
The government will recruit 10,000 officers, and authorities will recruit 4,000 more later this year to bolster police services, he said.
He made the comments days after Inspector General Douglas Kanja, before Parliament, said that the National Police Service has inadequate staff, vehicles, and aviation equipment to meet the increasing security demands ahead of the 2027 elections.
The government had envisioned recruiting 25,000 officers during President William Ruto’s first term of office, but budgetary constraints have seen just 10,000 officers recruited so far, Kanja said. The national Treasury would have budgeted KSh6.3 billion for recruitment, but ended up spending KSh2.9 billion.
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The United Opposition and civic society organisations have raised concerns about the recruitment’s potential impact on election security in the upcoming 2027 election, triggering political concerns. The Interior Ministry, Raymond Omollo, however, says the exercise is part of a broader police shakeup and continuing steps to boost the welfare of officers.
Raymond Omollo added that the state requires KSh2 billion to implement some of the police reforms that include salary increases for the junior officers, housing, and improving working conditions for the officers. He attributed the first few steps in the salary increment to the support from Parliament and explained that the government had already allocated funds for the last stages of the salary increment in the 2026/27 budget year.
