The Court of Appeal has handed Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja a major win in a long-running dispute with the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) over the recruitment of police constables, which has also raised questions about the management of the Sh60 billion police payroll.
The three-judge bench dismissed appeals by the NPSC and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), leaving in force a judgment that invalidated the commission’s 2025 recruitment advertisement and regulations.
Justices Patrick Kiage, Jamila Mohammed and Jessie Lesiit settled the question of who recruits sworn police officers, ruling that the NPSC’s claim to control their employment exceeded its constitutional mandate.
“It is provided explicitly enough that the Inspector General exercises independent command over the Service, and no person, not even the Cabinet Secretary, and thus less still the Commission, may give him a direction with respect to ‘the employment, assignment, promotion suspension or dismissal of any member of the National Police Service (Article 245(4) (c)). These are the very matters the Commission claims competence over, but the Constitution clearly denies it,” the judges said.
IG Kanja welcomed the court decision, saying that “the constitutional order has been vindicated”.
He also said that all police officers whose promotions had stalled, especially those who had completed their promotional courses, would be promoted immediately as a matter of urgency.
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The case began after the NPSC published a recruitment advertisement in the Nation on September 19, 2025, seeking police constables.
That day, it gazetted Legal Notice No. 159, the National Police Service Commission (Recruitment and Appointment) Regulations, 2025. The commission said the rules would standardise recruitment, ensure transparency, define the roles of recruitment panels and improve accountability through technology.
The exercise was intended to recruit 10,000 constables but was halted before its planned start.
Former Kilome MP John Harun Mwau challenged the advertisement and regulations in the Employment and Labour Relations Court, arguing that the NPSC had no constitutional authority to recruit members of a national security organ.
He said the National Police Service, under the Inspector-General’s independent command, had to recruit and train sworn officers. He also argued that the NPSC’s involvement risked dividing authority over officers’ deployment and discipline.
The Inspector-General, the National Police Service, the Attorney-General and the National Security Council supported Mr Mwau’s petition. They argued that the recruitment and training of sworn officers, as well as their command, fell under the Service and the IG.
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The Independent Policing Oversight Authority opposed the petition, challenging the court’s jurisdiction and Mr Mwau’s standing. IPOA also argued that the law gave the NPSC authority over uniformed officers and civilian staff.
In a judgment delivered on October 30, 2025, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled in favour of Mr Mwau. Justice Hellen Wasilwa declared that the NPSC was not a national security organ and that recruitment by such organs had to be conducted by the organs themselves.
She declared Legal Notice No. 159 unconstitutional and permanently barred the commission from recruiting, training, employing, assigning, promoting, suspending or dismissing members of the Service. The order also permanently suspended the September 19 advertisement.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja (left) with the Chairman of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC), Dr. Amani Yuda Komora addressing journalists during the 2025 National Police Service recruitment of police constables press conference held at the National Police Service Embakasi ‘A’ Campus in Nairobi on October 1, 2025.
Both the NPSC and the LSK appealed. The commission argued that Article 246(3) of the Constitution authorised it to recruit and appoint people to offices in the National Police Service, and that the Constitution did not distinguish between uniformed and civilian personnel.
It challenged the Labour Court’s jurisdiction and said the judgment threatened young Kenyans’ right to fair labour practices. The LSK also backed the commission’s position that the Constitution did not distinguish between sworn officers and civilian staff, while challenging the lower court’s jurisdiction.
However, in its judgment on Friday, the Court of Appeal rejected the commission’s interpretation of the Constitution. The judges focused on Articles 244, 245 and 246, noting that the Constitution refers to “members of the Service” when describing the Service’s duties and the IG’s command, but gives the NPSC authority over “persons holding or acting in offices in the Service”.
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The judges said the different wording in the Constitution was deliberate.
“We are unpersuaded that the framers [of the Constitution] would have altered the text through inadvertence or inattention,” they said, adding that the distinction separates the two groups.
They described sworn and ranked officers as security personnel, while civilian staff perform administrative, technical, clerical, medical, accounting, ICT, legal and other support functions.
“It is this latter category of staff of the Service that fall for recruitment, appointment, promotion and transfer by the Commission in the contemplation of Article 246(3) of the Constitution,” the judges stated, dismissing the appeals.
The court said sworn officers, including constables, fall under the National Police Service and the IG. It said the Constitution “clearly denies” the commission authority over employment matters reserved for the IG’s independent command.
The judges also rejected the argument that limiting the NPSC’s role would revive police impunity, saying the IG remained accountable under the Constitution.
In conclusion, the court upheld the permanent order barring the NPSC from recruiting, employing, assigning, promoting, suspending or dismissing sworn police officers, reinforcing the Inspector-General’s authority over personnel management within the police command structure.
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