Kanja has been acting in the position following the resignation of previous IGP Japheth Koome. He had been serving as the Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service.
A career police officer, Kanja has risen through the ranks, having joined as a constable on July 15, 1985. READ FULL STORY
Hailing from a humble family in Nyeri County, Kanja was the first in his family to ever serve as a police officer. Growing up, Kanja always dreamed of being a uniformed officer.
After his secondary school education, Kanja attended the 1985 police recruitment exercise in the then Nyeri District. During the very competitive exercise, Kanja impressed the recruiters and was hired on the spot.
After the training at Kiganjo, the young Kanja’s first posting as a police officer was in Lokichoggio, Turkana.
“My desire and dream were always to be a police officer,” he says. “That is why I worked with diligence and great passion in the service for almost four decades.”
Due to his discipline and work ethic, Kanja rose through the ranks to reach the top office at Vigilance House.
Kenyans still fondly remember his heroics during the Dusit Hotel terror attacks.
On January 15, 2019, gunmen associated with the al-Shabaab terrorist group attacked the DusitD2 Hotel complex in Riverside Drive, Nairobi.
Armed with AK-47s and wearing load-bearing vests, the terrorists opened fire, killing several innocent bystanders.
As an operation commander, Kanja led Kenya’s response to the attack, managed to contain the terrorists, and rescued scores of civilians trapped within the complex.
Kanja was also in charge of the Boni Forest operation, where he led his team to tremendous success in reducing terror incidents there.
A diligent police officer, Kanja then served as the GSU Commandant, where he ensured his officers succeeded in their operations across the country.
As an outstanding public servant, Kanja says one of his lowest moments in his career was when he went to Wilson Airport to receive the 11 bodies of his officers who had been killed during an IED attack in Liboi in 2021.
Another sad day for him was when he received the bodies of officers killed in the Napeitom attack in the North Rift Region.
Kanja is also a firearms specialist and has previously served as the Police Service Chief Armourer.
In his four decades as a police officer, he served in Nairobi, Coast, Eastern and Rift Valley, among other regions.
