A company barely two years old has been handed a massive government deal to supply new uniforms to Kenya’s police force, and the trail leads straight to people connected to the first family.
Nalitex Limited was registered on 3 May 2024. Its only director and shareholder is Selpha Chesimi Temoi, a teacher from Kapsokwony in Bungoma County.
On paper the firm’s office sits at Hifadhi House in Nairobi’s central business district. Yet when journalists went looking, no such office existed.
The postal address listed for Nalitex is the same one used by an auditing firm run by Charles Tela Alusala and by a luxury apartment complex linked to President William Ruto’s family.
Alusala is no ordinary accountant. He has long handled financial matters for companies tied to First Lady Rachel Ruto and the president’s daughter, Charlene Ruto.
Records show he holds a sizeable stake in Amaco Insurance, a firm in which the Ruto family also owns shares. The phone number registered for Nalitex traces back to him as well.
The new uniforms themselves were unveiled by President Ruto this week at the National Police Training College in Kiganjo. General-duty officers will soon swap their dark-blue kit for light-blue shirts and navy trousers.
Each working set costs about Sh25,000. Ceremonial versions run higher. Scaling that across tens of thousands of officers puts the full bill somewhere near Sh3 billion.
How a company with no public track record, no visible office and a director whose only known occupation is teaching walked away with a contract of this size remains unanswered.
Police bosses and government spokesmen have stayed tight-lipped about the tender process. Parliament’s oversight committee says it was kept in the dark.
Kenyans are used to stories of well-connected firms landing public contracts. What stands out here is how thin the paper trail is and how quickly the links point toward the president’s inner circle.
A teacher from Bungoma appears as the sole face of the company, while the numbers, addresses and financial contacts all circle back to people already close to State House.
Until clear answers emerge about who really stands behind Nalitex and how the award was made, the new police uniforms will carry more than just a change of colour.
They will carry the heavy suspicion that once again public money has been steered toward private interests.
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