Douglas Kanja Approved As The New Inspector General

NAIROBI Kenya September 19 -The National Assembly on Wednesday approved Douglas Kanja as the new Inspector General of Police.

The nominee will now await formal appointment by President William Ruto this week.

The joint committee of National Assembly Administration and Internal Security and Senate Internal Security, Defence and Foreign Relations earlier vetted and approved Kanja.

Baringo Senator William Cheptumo, who chairs the Senate Internal Security and Defence Committee, moved the motion, which was unanimously endorsed by Senators on August 20.

Kanja, then the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Kenya Police Service was initially appointed the acting IG after the former IG Japhet Koome resigned. On July 25, President Ruto nominated Kanja as the new IG.

Following this nomination, Kanja was replaced by the DIG Administration Police Service (APS) Gilbert Masengeli, who has since then been the acting IGP.

The career police officer now becomes the fifth IG. His journey to the helm of the police service began from a humble beginning as a Police Constable.

His current position is a culmination of a long journey that started way back in 1985 when he joined the Kenya Police Force for the Basic Recruits Training Course at the then General Service Unit (GSU) Training School, now the National Police College – Embakasi ‘B’ Campus.

Kanja started his primary education at Njatheini Primary School from 1972 to 1978.

He then joined Sagana Technical School in 1979 and left in 1982 after sitting his ‘O’ Level Examinations and later joined Murang’a High School for his ‘A’ Level education from 1983 to 1984.

Kanja then joined the GSU, a paramilitary unit of the then Kenya Police Force in 1985 where he rose steadily through the ranks.

Having accomplished the initial Kenya Police Basic Recruits Training Course at the GSU Training School Embakasi, Kanja went on to train at the Armourer’s Technical Training School where he was awarded Armourer Class 1 Certificate after the three-year training.

In 1987, he went back to the GSU Training School – Embakasi for Corporal Promotion Course, and in 1990 for an Inspectorate Promotion Course.

In 2004, Kanja proceeded to the Kenya Police College – Kiganjo Higher Training Promotion (HTC) Course and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Acting Superintendent of Police.

Kanja’s professional training touches on every essential aspect of the policing profession. Having attended the Armourer’s Technical Training School from 1987 to 1990, he qualified to handle a wide variety of firearms.

This qualification earned him a series of promotions from Unit Armourer-GSU, Deputy Chief Armourer KPS Headquarters and finally, Chief Armourer KPS.

As Chief Armourer KPS, Kanja was responsible for the maintenance of an accurate up-to-date record and database of all arms and ammunition held by the NPS and other Government departments and agencies other than those held by the military.

It was during this time that the nationwide marking of state-owned firearms for ease of identification was rolled out.

As a former Chief Armourer, he has wide experience in stockpile management of small arms and light weapons in conjunction with the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA) and the Kenya National Focal Point on Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (KNFP).

He also has experience in destruction of recovered small arms and marking of all State-owned Firearms and Database Creation.

He was also at the forefront of championing the attainment of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) at UN headquarters.

In addition to the initial arms training, in 2008 Kanja attended training on Advanced Arms Marking Systems in South Africa, and later in the same year, he attended a Regional Arms Marking and Database Creation and Management Workshop in Mombasa.

To enhance his professional skills, Kanja went back to the Armourer’s Nairobi in 2010 for training in Arms Marking and Database Creation.

In 2012, he joined Kenyatta University for a Diploma in Security Management and Police Studies and graduated in 2014.

In 2013, Kanja was appointed the Deputy Commandant, Kenya Airport Police Unit (KAPU) where he was responsible for all administrative matters of the airport police.

In 2015 he then became the County Police Commander Kilifi County where he was responsible to the Deputy IG-KPS through the Regional Police Commander for; the effective and efficient day-to-day administration of the Kenya Police Service at County level.

Later that year, Kanja became the Deputy Commandant GSU and was responsible to the Unit Commandant in all administrative and operational matters, before ascending to become the Commandant GSU in 2018.

As the Commandant GSU, Kanja was responsible to the Deputy IG-KPS for effective and efficient day- to-day administration of the GSU and implementing policies and directives of the Service in relation to the KPS.

His wide experience in operations saw him deployed as the Joint Operations Commander in the Operation Linda Boni for a period of two years, 2016-2018.

He was later appointed as the fourth Deputy Inspector General (IG) of the Kenya Police Service (KPS) in 2023.

The first IG was David Kimaiyo who resigned on December 2, 2014 just a few hours after the Mandera dawn massacre that claimed 36 lives. Kimaiyo however maintained that his resignation was not as a result of the then rise in insecurity in the country.

“The security challenges in the country need concerted efforts with all the stakeholders. These are challenging times, especially with the current trend of international terror. We are at war as a country but we cannot relent,” he said when he resigned.