New police spokesperson named in major reshuffle 

National Police Service spokesperson Resila Onyango has been appointed Commandant of the Diplomatic Police Unit in changes made yesterday by Inspector General Douglas Kanja.

The new Service spokesperson is Michael Nyaga Muchiri who was the Kiambu County Commander.

Nairobi Region police commander Adamson Bungei has been transferred to the Kenya Police Service headquarters and named the Director of Operations. He replaced William Yiampoy, the former Presidential Escort commander, who is yet to be deployed.

Bungei has been replaced by Coast boss George Sedah while Sedah has been replaced by Kwale County police commander Ali Nuno, who has been promoted. Nuno, a seasoned officer and the former Kiambu county police boss is expected to deal with the Mombasa gangs and drugs.

The head of National Forensics Laboratory at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters Mwangi Wanderi has been named IG Kanja’s Principal Assistant and also the Director of Human Capital at Jogoo House.

Dr Wanderi has swapped places with Rosemary Kuraru who heads to the DCI headquarters. The new head of Community Policing is Judy Jebet. She replaces John Gachomo who has been moved to headquarters for deployment.

The head of the Serious Crime Unit (SCU) at DCI Michael Sang was moved to Eastern as the regional head of the DCI.

The new head of community policing will be Judy Jebet. She replaced John Gachomo who moved to police headquarters for redeployment.

Commandant Diplomatic Police Unit Rhoda Kinanu was moved to police headquarters for redeployment while Eastern regional head of DCI Daniel Korir was moved to Kenya Airports Police Unit (KAPU) as the commandant.

Advocate Amos Omuga, the head of legal services at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), was moved to the NPS headquarters in the same capacity and was replaced by his former deputy Augustine Kittony.

Police headquarters termed the changes normal and aimed at boosting operations. They are the major changes since the June 25, 2024, Gen Z protests.

The new Director of Operations Bungei was appointed as the Nairobi Police Commander in November 2022.

Before this appointment, he served as the Baringo County Police Commander and had previously held positions as the Officer Commanding the Police Division for Buruburu and Central in Nairobi.

Bungei’s tenure at Nairobi has been characterized by various hunan rights violations and allegations of use of excessive force.

In March 2023, for example, Azimio coalition party leader Raila Odinga threatened to take legal action against Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei over the chaos and violence witnessed in the city during the opposition-led anti-government protests.

Raila said they would file charges locally and internationally against Bungei, who was previously the Baringo County police commander.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) is investigating the use of excessive force during last year’s Gen Z demonstrations with the Authority warning that senior police commanders will be held criminally responsible if the ongoing investigations do not identify the individual officers involved in the shooting of protesters.

In the ongoing probe, Bungei and other senior officers had been interrogated over the manner in which the demonstrations were handled.