IG Kanja explains how Capitol Hill Police Station was declared redundant and degazetted

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has revealed the circumstances that led to the degazettement of the Capitol Hill Police Station in Nairobi, a move that prompted the relocation of officers.

IG Kanja disclosed that the degazettement was the end of a paper trail that began at the Cabinet level and wound its way through legal opinion, administrative directives, and operational restructuring.

Speaking when he appeared before the Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations on Thursday, Kanja laid out the sequence of events that led to the decision, framing it as a compliance process rather than a standalone police initiative.

At the centre of the matter was a June 20, 2025 letter from the State Department for Internal Security and National Administration, which conveyed Cabinet approval to reallocate the land hosting the station.

According to the IG, the directive required the National Police Service (NPS) to begin the process of degazettement and pave the way for transfer of the parcel to the Africa Trade Insurance Agency, financial sector regulators, and St. John Ambulance Kenya.

Faced with the directive, Kanja said he sought legal guidance from the Attorney General’s office in July 2025 to establish whether the move met constitutional and statutory thresholds.

“The Attorney General, vide letter Ref. AG/CIV/ MSL/313/25 dated 11th August 2025, provided a preliminary legal opinion outlining the background, applicable legal considerations and requisite safeguards to guide the process,” said Kanja.

“Pursuant to the foregoing and guided by the legal advisory issued by the Principal State Counsel, I declared the said parcel of land redundant for police use and would like to assure the Committee that there will be no gap in the provision of policing services in the area…”

That declaration triggered a chain of internal actions within the police service, beginning in April 2026 when the IG instructed the Deputy Inspector General to begin a structured disengagement from the facility; an exercise involving the transfer of records, redeployment of officers, and relocation of operational units.

Kanja emphasised that the process was deliberately sequenced to avoid disruption, with policing responsibilities redistributed to surrounding stations including Kilimani Police Station, Kenyatta Hospital Police Post, Golf Course Police Post and the Kemri Patrol Base.

His submission to the Senate committee positioned the degazettement as the outcome of inter-agency coordination, driven by Cabinet policy, tested through legal review, and executed through administrative compliance within the police service.

Capitol Hill Police Station Officer Commanding Station Tusca Opondo, in a notice early this month, instructed all officers to vacate the premises within the shortest time possible following their redeployment to other stations. 

"Capitol Hill Police Station has been officially degazetted, and as a result, I, the Officer Commanding Station, have been instructed to vacate the premises within the shortest time possible," he stated.

The OCS ordered all multi-agency investigators with pending cases and exhibits currently held at the station to collect them without delay.

"I am instructed to request that all multi-agency investigators with pending cases and exhibits, including motor vehicles, currently held at this station, arrange to collect them immediately," Opondo stated.

Members of the public with pending cash bail deposits were also advised to collect their refunds promptly before the funds are surrendered to the National Treasury.

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has since said he was moving to court to challenge the degazettement, saying the move would severely compromise security in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area.