FAKE: Government Has Not Introduced Pocketless Uniforms For Police Officers

On 3rd November 2022, social media had reports that uniforms without pockets would be introduced for police officers in Kenya. The information was attributed to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.

The claim, started off by Record TV Kenya on its verified Facebook page, went viral and was shared by a number of social media users.

A review of the post, however, shows it is Fake. First, the Ministry of Interior, which is in charge of security and the police, flagged as FAKE the tweet claiming that Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki had said police will be wearing pocketless uniforms.

The Ministry of Interior, through its verified Twitter account, dismissed the claim. In the post, the ministry said, “The Government through @InteriorKE and @NPSC_KE will continue to prioritize reforms that dignify the Police and complement their capacities for an effective discharge of their duties.”

Meanwhile, Record TV Kenya has retracted the claim and deleted its post and published an apology to the Ministry of Interior and the public.

“Record TV Kenya wishes to send an apology for misreporting the Ministry’s stand on police using pocketless uniforms post dated 3rd, November, 2022,” the platform said through its head of communications, Ms Ruth Neema, in a post published on 7th November. 

“We as well send the same apology to all Kenyans who might have fallen for our mistake. We have hence deleted the post from all our websites,” the post adds.

The claim that police will start wearing pocketless uniforms has been dismissed by the Ministry of Interior and disowned by the source and is, therefore, FAKE.

This fact-check was produced by BUSINESS TODAY with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.

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