After years of serving as the public face of the National Police Service, Charles Owino is stepping into a much broader communication role.
The newly appointed Government Spokesperson says his office will focus on helping Kenyans understand how the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary work together in shaping and implementing government policies.
Speaking about his new assignment at Radio Generation on Thursday, Owino said communicating on behalf of the government presents a different challenge from his previous role as Police Spokesperson, where public communication largely centred on policing and security matters.
He said the Government Spokesperson's office must explain the full process through which policies are developed, debated and implemented, noting that government decisions often involve multiple State institutions before they take effect.
"As much as I sit in the Executive Office of the President, what happens in the Judiciary is part of government, what happens in Parliament is part of government, and what happens in the Executive and achievements and development of government is holistic," Owino said.
The Government Spokesperson explained that while many policies originate within the Executive, they must pass through Parliament and may also be challenged or interpreted by the courts before they are fully implemented.
"Even now we want to come up with a new tertiary funding. It has to go to Parliament. It can be something that is developed or initiated by government, but when it's in Parliament, other people may go to court, or even when it has been passed, the court factor is also there," he said.
According to Owino, this makes government communication more comprehensive, as it requires explaining the contribution of different arms of government rather than focusing on a single institution.
He described the position as one that offers a broader national conversation, saying there are many issues that shape government beyond the work of the Executive alone.
Owino also reflected on the contrast between his former and current responsibilities, noting that policing often attracts public attention only during crises.
"When police are doing very well, there tends to be no discussion about them," he said.
The former Police Spokesperson was appointed Government Spokesperson on July 21, 2026, as part of presidential nominations and redeployments within the Executive.
His appointment marked a return to frontline government communication, this time with a mandate that extends beyond security matters to explaining the workings of government across its different institutions.
On May 8, 2021, Owino was moved from the National Police Service (NPS) spokesman to the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons (KNFP) and named the deputy director.
Owino was in 2015 in charge of security at Kisumu County government, where he had been moved from Ndhiwa the previous year.
Before then, he had served as the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) for Njoro since mid-2013.
Owino was the second director of communication in NPS under the new dispensation, which started in 2012 whereby both the Kenya Police and Administration Police Service were put under one command of the IGP.
The first one was the current Director of Directorate of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti who assumed the position in 2013 up to 2018.