Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Friday unveiled a wide-ranging package of reforms and benefits for chiefs and their assistants, including promotions, salary increments, new uniforms, and enhanced security roles, with some set to undergo paramilitary training and be issued with firearms.

Murkomen announced that all 8,102 chiefs will undergo a three-week paralegal and security management course, with the first cohort of 1,000 already identified.

Some of the administrators will be attending structured training for the first time in more than two decades.

As part of the reforms, chiefs from North Eastern and Rift Valley regions will receive paramilitary instruction, be registered as National Police Reservists, and later armed upon completing advanced training.

The course will also cover crime prevention, environmental conservation, resolution of land disputes, and coordination with other security agencies.

“We have started with your training, which will be followed immediately by promotions. Welfare matters will be addressed,” Murkomen said, stressing that chiefs remain “critical to the country’s governance and security architecture.”

He criticised past governments for failing to train chiefs and assistant chiefs, adding that President William Ruto is committed to the success of the bottom-up economic model, which depends on strong grassroots administration.

“As a government, we are committed to upgrading the offices and the living conditions of these chiefs so that when citizens come to be served, they can feel they are in the Office of the President,” Murkomen said.

During the launch, the CS flagged off thousands of new uniforms for distribution to counties, unveiled new operating procedures to streamline cooperation between grassroots officers and the National Government Administration Police Unit (Ngapu), and pledged to strengthen the vehicle-leasing programme. Some chiefs will also be issued with motorcycles.

“I was surprised that chiefs and assistant chiefs are given standard sizes of shoes ... as well as uniforms without measurements. We will be deliberate and we will begin taking measurements and ensure we distribute them to the counties instead of you traveling all the way to Nairobi,” Murkomen said.

This year alone, 87 chiefs and 58 assistant chiefs have already been promoted. Murkomen promised that those completing the new training programme will be granted “immediate” promotions in line with Public Service Commission rules.

The reforms build on recent changes that restored police support to chiefs through the Ngapu, a unit created under Assistant Inspector-General Charles Mutuma.

The unit, which currently has 6,000 officers drawn from the Administration Police, works directly under the chiefs and is set for phased expansion to 19,000 based on regional security needs.

The restoration of the unit reversed a 2018 policy that had stripped chiefs and other National Government Administration Officers (Ngaos) of direct command over police, a decision critics say weakened law enforcement.

President Ruto ordered its return, arguing that lack of police backing had undermined chiefs in fighting crime, cracking down on illicit brews, and managing inter-communal conflicts.