Appeals lodged by both the National Police Service Commission and the Law Society of Kenya were turned down by the Court of Appeal on 16 October 2026, according to media reports. The court's ruling vested authority over recruiting, training, employing, deploying, promoting, suspending, and removing sworn officers in the police service, operating beneath the Inspector-General's autonomous chain of command.
Oversight of civilian personnel — spanning administrative, technical, accounting, information technology, legal, and medical roles — remains vested in the commission. The bench construed the commission's authority under Article 246(3) as extending only to those holding civilian positions.
Under Article 246(2), the Inspector-General together with both Deputy Inspectors-General retain their seats alongside appointed members, leaving the overall composition of the commission unchanged.
A three-judge Court of Appeal panel, convening on 27 February 2026, placed a partial hold on the earlier ruling — suspending the section that had vested the Inspector-General with exclusive power over staff promotions and dismissals — while permitting ongoing recruitment and training to proceed, and directed that the appeal be heard within a three-month window. A span of 231 days separated that order from the point at which the ruling was handed down.
According to a document published in June 2026 and drawing on anonymous sources, the commission had not convened a full session since February, a gap that left personnel who had finished promotion training without formal confirmation of their new ranks. The same report stated that Deputy President Kithure Kindiki brought together Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Inspector-General Douglas Kanja, his deputies, and commissioners for a meeting, though the gathering ended without any agreement being reached.
Discussions about dropping the case took place, according to an unidentified source cited in the report, though a portion of the civilian commissioners on the board were said to be against the move. Those present at the event did not have any statements attributed to them in the published record.
Constitutional appeals lodged at the Court of Appeal level pass automatically to the Supreme Court for hearing, a pathway that Article 163(4)(a) establishes without requiring leave. As of the reporting reviewed, no filing announcement had come from either the commission or the Law Society.
Kanja, serving as Inspector-General, told reporters the ruling upheld constitutional principles, describing the outcome as a win for the law. A payroll oversight dispute has also emerged between the Inspector-General and the commission. When legislators pressed for a payroll handover in July 2025, Kanja maintained that the police service had operated within legal boundaries.
The Inspector-General brought an application before the High Court in November 2025, seeking removal of a recruitment freeze order, as the State put forward that three years without new hires had left the service with a staffing shortfall. A planned recruitment of 10,000 constables sits at the heart of a separate legal challenge, distinct from the ruling handed down by the Court of Appeal.
Figures published on the commission's website across a window spanning late August into early September 2026 put the number of recruits who had completed training at Kiganjo at upwards of 6,000, with a separate cohort of Administration Police recruits having finished their programme at Embakasi.
In the court's view, the Inspector-General's authority operates within boundaries set by the Constitution, which encompasses its protections for human rights and the rule of law. Under Article 245(7), the President holds the power to dismiss the Inspector-General on grounds that span gross constitutional violations, serious misconduct, and a failure to perform duties competently. Under Article 245(6), whoever holds the position may serve only one term, capped at four years.
Under Article 238(2)(d), national security organs are bound to draw their personnel from across the full breadth of Kenyan society, with each community represented in fair and proportionate measure. Under subsection (4) of Article 246, Kenya's police service is required to draw its membership from across the country's varied regional and ethnic communities. Under Article 101, polling day in Kenya falls in August 2027.
