Female police officers drawn from Mombasa county have decried lack of maternity uniforms, arguing that the normal uniform compromises the comfort of pregnant officers.
The officers noted that being forced to squeeze into the police uniform even when heavily pregnant was causing health complications to both the unborn and pregnant officers.
The officers who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear, of facing disciplinary actions from their bosses said that they are currently being forced to dig deeper into their pockets to tailor-make buggy official uniforms to conceal their pregnancy.
“It is quite unfortunate for female officers who are required to dress in the uniform even when one is pregnant, we are now being forced to seek advice from our bosses on what to wear to work when our pregnancy begins to show, they only advise us to hide our pregnancies into ” buggy trousers and a shirt which one is unable to tuck in when you are heavily pregnant and would cost”, an officer revealed.
According to yet another officer, she revealed they were being forced to apply for early maternity leaves, due to the discomfort caused by putting on trousers during pregnancy.
“You can imagine at six months, with a trouser which you are supposed to tuck inside a shirt most of us are now preferring on taking early maternity leave to avoid the distress that we have undergone while carrying a pregnancy, being pregnant in the police force is enough punishment,” another officer said.
They are now calling on the National Police Service, to come up with maternity-friendly police uniforms for female officers.
“We are now demanding for the NPS to look into our cry, we have suffered enough in silence and we are now coming out seeking answers to bring to an end the untold suffering some of us have undergone, by releasing specific guidance on maternity uniforms,” another female police officer said.
On her part Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) gender officer Topister Juma said that they had received several complaints from female police officers, seeking to petition the National Police Service (NPS) to include maternity uniforms in their police reforms agenda and the welfare of officers.
“After receiving and documenting cases of police officers, who have developed health complications due to lack of maternity uniforms, we feel their rights have been violated and we have now begun advocacy to introduce maternity uniforms among the disciplined forces we are compiling the list of all those affected before taking the necessary action,” she said
