The government has created a new fund to improve Kenya Defence Forces readiness for deployment to peace keeping missions.
The Peace Support Operation fund will cater for acquisition and maintenance of the KDF equipment and logistical needs for the troops.
It will also help in giving mission specific training for the troops.
Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale launched the fund the at Kahawa Barracks on Thursday.
He said the move will enhance the readiness posture of the forces to respond to peace missions.
The CS said the fund was approved by the Cabinet in October last year and Treasury has already set aside money for it.
He said readying the forces by availing the facilitation fund was a demonstration that Kenya takes its international obligation seriously.
“Operationalising this fund demonstrates the country’s seriousness in contributing significantly to the international peace and security,” Duale said.
He said the troops will be ready for rapid activation for the missions should a need arise and will elevate the country's profile.
Defense PS Peter Mariru, who is the administrator of the fund, said that its secretariat was already in place and operational.
“I pledge that we will manage the fund in a transparent manner and every shilling will be used for the intended purpose without wastage and in compliance with other laws,” he said.
The funds will be managed by the defense council but the PS remains the head of its secretariat.
Mariru said the task ahead is how to grow the kitty and make it sustainable.
Chief Defense Forces Francis Ogolla said he had directed that the posture of the KDF be elevated to deployment ready.
“I have directed that the troops that have been pledged for foreign peace missions be elevated to deployable ready. This fund has enhanced the capability of the force to regenerate and be more mission ready,” he said.
With the ability to easily acquire and maintain the equipment it contributes to the peace keeping missions, the country will now attract competitive re-imbursement from the UN missions.
The CDF said conflict management has become dynamic, with peace keeping forces becoming targets of attack.
“Conflict management has increasingly changed because even peace keeping troops have become targets of malign actors hence the need to be able to quickly mobilise resources and get modern equipment and maintain them,” Ogolla said.
Kenya has a longstanding history of participating in peace keeping missions, starting with the 1979 deployment of KDF to Zimbabwe.
The force's stay in Somalia also transformed to peace keeping when it got incorporated as part of Amisom in November 2011.
KDF later joined Atmis in April 2022 when the mission of Amisom got expired.
Also, various KDF soldiers have been seconded to join UN peace keeping missions in various parts of the world, the latest being part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC, known as Monusco.
Duale also flagged the inaugural contingent-owned equipment destined to assist in restoring peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo under Monusco.