The retirement of at least four senior military officers prompted change of guard at the Kenya Defence Forces.
Kenya Army commander lieutenant general Walter Koipaton, KDF East commander major general Ayub Matiri and his Western command counterpart major general Joseph Kivunzi retired.
This is after they attained the mandatory retirement age.
A general retires at age 62, lieutenant general (61), major general (59) and brigadier at 57 years.
The Kenya Defence Forces Act says the Chief of Defence Forces, his deputy and service commanders shall serve a single term of four years or retire upon attaining the mandatory retirement age.
A Defence Council meeting, otherwise known as Board One, met on July 20 under the chairmanship of Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa to make the changes.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the Commander-In-Chief of KDF, accepted the changes made and appointed lieutenant general Peter Mbogo Njiru to replace Koipaton.
Koipaton retired after serving his four-year term and attaining the retirement age.
Njiru served as Uhuru’s aide-de-camp for four years in his first term.
He was appointed commander at the Defence Staff College last year.
The board also promoted five officers from the rank of brigadier to major general.
Major general David Tarus was appointed as the commander of Western Command to replace Kivunzi who retired.
Major general Juma Shee Mwinyikai was appointed the new commander of East Command to replace Matiri, who was named the Kenyan ambassador to Egypt in April.
Major general Fredrick Leuria was moved from Nairobi Metropolitan Service where he had been on secondment and was named the assistant Chief of Defence Forces in charge of operations, plans, doctrine and training to replace Major general Peter Muteti.
Leuria had been the deputy director of military intelligence at the Kenya Defence headquarters prior to his secondment to the NMS.
In the changes, Major general Mungai Nyaga was named the force commander of East African Community regional force for DRC. The division is a new outfit tasked with containing the instability in parts of DRC.
Major general Bernard Waliaula was appointed the director Defence National Security Industries.
Some 16 officers of the rank of colonel were also promoted to the rank of brigadier.
They include brigadier William Kamoiro who was named the commander of second brigade and brigadier Ahmed Mohamed Saman who was appointed commander special operations brigade.
Also, brigadier Joel Muirungi who was appointed commander Recruit Training School and brigadier Joseph Mokwena appointed the chief of systems Defence headquarters.
Brigadier David Chesire was appointed commandant eight brigade while the acting director of Asset Recovery brigadier Alice Mate was also promoted and will remain in the legal branch at Defence headquarters.
Brigadier David Kimeli was appointed the chief medical officer Isiolo Hospital while brigadier Charles Ndirangu will be the managing director Defence Forces Food Processing Factory.
Brigadier Mohamed Salah Farah was appointed the base commander of Laikipia Air Base while brigadier Dahir Ali was appointed principal Defence Forces technical college and brigadier Justino Mutisya Muinde appointed chief medical officer Eldoret regional hospital.
Brigadier Apolo Ogolla Aloka was appointed senior directing staff air National Defence College and brigadier Hillary Biwott Kipkosgey was appointed director Kenya Space Agency.
Former Kenya Defence Forces spokesperson brigadier Ziporah Kioko Kalondu was appointed chief of strategic communication at Defence headquarters.
Brigadier John Wekesa Khaoya was appointed chief of welfare and compensation at Defence headquarters while Uhuru’s ADC brigadier Timothy Lekolool was promoted to the rank of brigadier but will remain with the president.
A statement from the Department of Defence said more changes are to come as per the Defence Council. The changes however still leave room for speculations on the next chief of Defence Forces.
The fact that the current vice chief of Defence Forces lieutenant general Francis Ogolla was not touched means he still remains a possible candidate for the position.
The other candidate is lieutenant general Mohamed Badi of the Nairobi Metropolitan Service.
The next CDF is likely to be from the Kenya Airforce.
However, Kenya Airforce commander major general John Omenda has to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general for him to be in line to succeed general Robert Kibochi whose term ends next year.
Under the rules introduced by retired chief of General Staff Gen Daudi Tonje — adopted and known as the Tonje Rules — the position of the CDF is rotated among the three services. These are Kenya Army, Kenya Air Force and Kenya Navy.
Kibochi is from the Kenya Army and his predecessor, general Samson Mwathethe, was from the Kenya Navy. This means that the next CDF must come from the Kenya Air Force.
Lieutenant general Njiru will now join the Assumption of the Office of the President Committee to manage Uhuru's succession.
Apart from Omenda, the other service commanders are Kenya Army commander lieutenant general Njiru and Kenya Navy commander major general Jimson Mutai.
Apart from the CDF, other members of the Assumption of the Office of the President Committee are the director of NIS, PS Interior, Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General, State House Comptroller as well as PSs for Foreign Affairs, Finance and ICT.
Others are two clerks of the bicameral Parliament and the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary.
The team is chaired by the Secretary of the Cabinet. Part of the mandate of the committee is to organise for the security of the president-elect.
They also co-ordinate the briefings of the president-elect by key public officers and facilitate communication between the outgoing president and the president-elect.
The Act also says the president may, on the recommendation of Board One, extend the CDF’s term for not more than one year, in times of war or emergencies such as political uncertainty.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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