06/05/2024
I couldn’t let this slip. So yea, here it is!
Ruto made changes to the military top brass, promoted Lt Gen Kahariri to General and appointed him CDF. Kahariri becomes the most inexperienced chief of the military since independence, with three distinct disadvantages,
1. He was a Three Star (Lt Gen) for barely two months. Military promotions in the General ranks follow strictly after Senior General Command Courses, undertaken mostly at Sandhurst Military Academy in England, by past Kenyan top military bosses. In fact, Lt Gen Daudi Tonje was Army Commander for a mere 225 days because he had to interrupt his command to return to Sandhurst to take up a course in readiness for his Four Star appointment. Kahariri has not taken any. I actually thought the slot would remain on acting capacity so that the eventual appointee would be sneaked out to take the courses first, for a year.
2. Kahariri becomes the first chief who has never been a service commander. There is no rule stopping him, but the general consensus is that a service commander has gathered sufficient and requisite experience to be in charge of a bigger command, as CDF.
3. In view of 1 and 2 above, Kahariri also comes from the smallest service in KDF, the Navy. It is bad enough not to have been a service commander, but to come from the smallest of services on top of that is a supreme disadvantage. The soldiers won't tell you, but the usual pride and respect will be missing, especially within the Army infantry and the Special Forces, who love to be led by the finest Generals.
I have stated on this page that the death of General Ogola presented absolutely no advantage to Kalenjin military networks, but loads of it to the Kikuyu ones. Since Ogola was to retire next year, the ideal situation for the Kalenjin would have been to buy time by giving him a one year extension, retire Kahariri alongside Ogola or send Kahariri to the National Defence University and appoint General Jimson Mutai as CDF. I get the feeling this was the plan all along. For the record, Lt Gen Mutai is not a Kalenjin per se, but a Pokot, hence the new use of the Longiro name.
Be that as it may, the biggest news from the changes should be that Lt General John Mugaravai Omenda has become the first Luhya to ever rise to Three Star General. In one year, the Ruto regime has appointed the first ever Luo Four Star and the first ever Luhya Three Star. And it's been sixty full years of waiting! Omenda was made the VCDF, rather than someone from the Army, who, by the rules, should succeed the Navy in the cycle. I suspect that the fact that the Kenya Air Force didn't get to finish their term as CDF, and especially after they were also bypassed when Gen Joe Kibwana of the Navy retired in 2005, weighs heavily on the Defence Council.
Which brings in a very interesting perspective. In my view, Lt Gen Omenda will actually ultimately succeed Kahariri. The same regime that appointed the first Luo military boss will also appoint the first Luhya one. Outwardly, the story will be that Omenda is completing Ogola's term, or at least the KAF's. But even though the appointment of Kahariri ensures Mutai will not become CDF anymore, Omenda presents for Ruto the same gift Ogola did; pacify Western Kenya while keeping Kikuyu interests in check. Well, to be honest, it also helps Ruto to have a safe pair of hands at the top while avoiding being accused of appointing a Kalenjin as CDF.
1/3
