By SANDRA MULOMI
The Commandant of the General Service Unit (GSU) , Johana Kiplangat Tonui, and his counterpart at the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU), Paul Maingo Mumo, are among more than 2,000 police officers promoted to higher ranks.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja announced the promotions on Thursday following a day-long meeting with his two deputies, Eliud Lagat of the Kenya Police Service (KPS) and Gilbert Masengeli of the Administration Police Service (APS), as well as Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin.
Meanwhile, Kanja is on Monday scheduled to chair a police service board on Monday where he is expected to announce the promotion of more officers from the rank of Constable to Assistant Inspector General of Police.
Kanja has directed service commanders to identify vacant positions within their jurisdictions and other areas with gaps that need to be filled and shortlist names of individuals qualifying to fill them. The names are supposed to be forwarded to his office by Monday morning.
The promotions come a week after the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling affirming that the power to recruit police officers rests with the Inspector General of Police and not the National Police Service Commission (NPSC).
In a judgment delivered on Friday, October 16, 2026, the court dismissed appeals challenging the commission’s mandate, ruling that Article 246(3) of the Constitution empowers the NPSC to recruit civilian staff serving within the National Police Service but does not extend to uniformed officers.
The judges noted that uniformed officers fall under the independent command of the Inspector General, whose office is protected from external directions on matters relating to the employment, assignment, promotion, suspension or dismissal of police officers under Article 245(4)(c) of the Constitution.
Among those promoted, six officers were elevated to the rank of Senior Assistant Inspector General of Police (SAIG), including Mumo and Tonui.
The other four are Philip Achola Opiyo, Director of Operations at the KPS; Samson Kiptum, who serves in the DCI; National Criminal Investigations Academy commandant Ibrahim Jilo; and Security of Government Buildings commandant Aggrey Shamala.
The SAIG rank is one level below Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and two levels below the Inspector General.
Several officers were also promoted to Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG).
They include Samuel Laboso, director of the DCI’s Anti-Narcotics Unit; Violet Maganu of the DCI’s training department; Peter Ngondu Munyotu; Everlyne Mbugua of the counselling unit; Reuben Kangongo Kemboi; William Kipto Sawe; Dickens Njogu Muriuki, commandant of the GSU Training School; Benjamin Mwanzi, the Traffic Department commandant; Stephen Odhiambo Okere; Martin Nyuguto, director of homicides at the DCI; John Kimathi Marete, the DCI’s director of corporate communications; and Mweni Mutisya of the Interpol Nairobi bureau.
Meanwhile, Agostino Kitony, director of legal affairs at the DCI, was promoted from Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to Commissioner of Police (CP).
Mumo’s distinguished policing career
Before his appointment as director of the Internal Affairs Unit, Mumo served as head of the Directorate of Quality Assurance at the Kenya Police Service headquarters at Vigilance House.
The IAU is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints against police officers.
Mumo began his policing career in the 1990s in Nyanza, where he handled investigations and road accidents. He later served at various stations in Western Kenya, Nairobi and other parts of the country.
By 1996, he was instructing recruits at the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo, teaching criminal law, police discipline and firearms handling.
His expertise subsequently earned him a position on the Presidential Escort Detail, where he provided close personal security to former President Daniel arap Moi.
Mumo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Security Management and Police Studies from Kenyatta University. He has also received training locally and internationally from agencies including the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Israel’s Mossad and the United Kingdom’s Scotland Yard.
He also holds an advanced diploma in leadership management from the United Nations Integrated Mission Training Centre in Monrovia, Liberia.
His career took an international dimension in 2012 when he was deployed to Liberia as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission.
As team leader of the UN Police (UNPOL) Transnational Crime Advisory Unit and Interpol in Monrovia, he worked closely with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
His responsibilities included training local police officers and helping establish Liberia’s Transnational Crime Investigation Unit.
Back in Kenya, Mumo became involved in several high-profile investigations.
He was part of the team that worked with the FBI to investigate the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed more than 213 people, injured scores of others and destroyed property worth millions of shillings.
He later joined investigations into the 2002 Kikambala Paradise Hotel attack and the attempted missile strike on an Israeli airliner in Mombasa.
In 2010, he led a team of Kenyan investigators who worked with their Ugandan counterparts to investigate the Kampala bombings, earning commendation from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
In 2014, he spearheaded operations against Al-Shabaab militants in Mpeketoni, Lamu County. He also participated in an operation involving Italian anti-mafia police to rescue kidnapped aid worker Silvia Romano in Somalia.
During George Kinoti’s tenure as DCI director, Mumo played a central role in establishing the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Tonui’s security and academic background
Tonui previously served in the Directorate of Operations and as director of Wildlife Security at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
He holds a Master of Arts degree in Leadership and Security Management from Kenyatta University.
His academic research focused on policing and organisational performance. His thesis was titled Participatory Supervision and its Influence on Work Performance in the Kenya Police Service: The Case of Machakos County (2010–2017).
