Ruto upholds Tonje rules in KDF changes

The newly appointed Chief of Defence Forces General Charles Kahariri and Vice CDF Lt Gen John Mugaravai Omenda. [File, Standard]

Lieutenant General Charles Muriu Kahariri has been appointed the Chief of Defence Forces.

President William Ruto yesterday promoted sitting Vice Chief of Defence Forces Lt Gen Kahariri to the rank of General and appointed him the military boss.

General Kahariri takes over from General Francis Ogolla who died in a helicopter crash in Elgeyo Marakwet last month. 

By appointing Gen Kahariri President Ruto has upheld the Daudi Tonje rules, which reformed Kenya's Defence forces. The rules say the rank of Chief of Defence Forces shall rotate between the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy and the Kenya Air Force.

Gen Ogolla was from the Kenya Air Force, while his predecessor Gen Robert Kariuki Kibochi was from the Kenya Army with Gen Samson Mwathethe before him having been drawn from the Kenya Navy.

According to the Kenya Defence Forces Act which guides military operations, a CDF, his deputy and service commanders are to serve a single term of four years or retire upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 62.

A general’s retirement age is 62, while that of Lt-Gen is 61, and Maj-Gen and Brigadier retire at 59 and 57, respectively.

The KDF Act, however, allows the president, on the recommendation of the National Defence Council, to extend the CDF’s term for a period not exceeding one year.

Other changes

Yesterday’s promotion of Gen Kahariri and subsequent appointment also saw the current Kenya Air Force Commander, Maj-Gen John Mugaravai Omenda promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and named Vice Chief of Defence Forces. 

“Until his appointment, Lieutenant General John Mugaravai Omenda was the Kenya Air Force Commander,” KDF said in an official statement.

Major General Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed, a two-star general was appointed the Kenya Air Force Commander becoming the first-ever woman service commander in the country’s history. She takes over command from Gen Omenda. In 2018, Gaiti became the first woman-ranked general after President Uhuru Kenyatta promoted her.

In addition, Major General Paul Owuor Otieno has been posted to the Kenya Navy and appointed Commander.

The president has also upheld the Defence Council’s recommendations and posted Major General Thomas Njoroge Ng’ang’a to the National Defence University and appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Administration and Finance.

Brigadier Peter Nyamu Githinji has also been promoted to Major General and appointed Senior Directing Staff, Air at National Defence College.

Who is General Kahariri

General Kahariri was promoted and appointed the Vice Chief of the Defence Forces on March 9, 2024.

A husband, father of three and grandfather, Gen Kahariri is described as a ‘soft-spoken baby face’ General, with a 37-year record who left a good record in the famous Operation Linda Nchi.

Before his promotion to the second highest rank in the military, Gen Kahariri was deputy commandant at the National Defence College. 

When President William Ruto and the late CDF Gen Francis Ogolla decorated Charles Kahariri after he was promoted to the rank of Lt General and appointed Vice CDF. [PCS]

Military sources indicate that Gen Kahariri’s journey began when he enlisted in the Navy, on April 3, 1987.

A graduate of US Naval War College, General Kahariri has previously served as the Deputy Commander Kenya Navy and Commander of Manda Bay Naval Nase.

Atem Kendo, a retired military officer in an article in one of the dailies, said General Kahariri was, and remains, soft-spoken in his manner of doing things with outstanding professional competence.

In his early military life, Gen Kahariri was among four officers who were sent overseas for advanced training.

According to Kendo, about the same time, Sierra Leone crumbled and the United Nations tasked the renowned Kenyan peacekeeper Lieutenant General Daniel Opande to attempt to stick the pieces together.

Kendo said at this point, Gen Khariri was headhunted to lead the personal staff of the tough no-nonsense Kenyan general in Sierra Leone, assignments that his contemporaries give a thumbs up saying he showed exceptional zeal.

Later after Kenya launched a full-scale invasion of Somali to deal with Al Shabaab Kahariri then a full colonel was tasked with tactical command of the maritime force - the assignment was referred to as Maritime Component Command.

“Serving as the Maritime Component Commander for “Operation Linda Nchi” and as the Task Force Commander for “Operation Sledge Hammer” during the capture of Kismaiyu remains one of Kahariris notable operational assignments,” a senior ranking military officer told the Standard.

The Source said Gen Kahariri has also represented Kenya as the National Focal Person for the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and the Djibouti Code of Conduct.

He also served on the National Task Forces for the Delimitation of Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zones and Delimitation of Kenya’s Extended Continental Shelf.

Lt Gen Kahariri is a laureate of various honours and awards with Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) being his most recent accolade.

Lt General John Mugaravai Omenda

Lt General Omenda was promoted to the rank of Major General in which he was appointed Kenya Air Force Commander on July 23, 2021.

He joined the Kenya Air Force on May 23, 1991, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on August 14, 1992. 

Omenda trained as a fighter pilot and has trained in other fields including Intelligence, Security and flight safety.

Newly appointed Vice Chief of Defence Forces Lt General John Mugaravai Omenda. [File, Standard]

He is a graduate of the Defence Staff College of Kenya and the Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom.

He holds a Diploma in Strategic Studies from the University of Nairobi, a Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies from Nazarene University and a Master of Arts in International Security and Strategy from Kings College, London.

Lt Gen Omenda was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and appointed Base Commander, Laikipia Air Base on July 13, 2018, and later appointed Deputy Air Force Commander on April 30, 2020. 

He also served in the United Nations Mission in Liberia from 2006 to 2007.

Lt Gen Omenda, a spotty military man with a passion for golf, also enjoys reading, is married and has four children.

History is made

It was another first for women in the military when Kenya Air Force Major General Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed, a two-star General was appointed service Commander.

As she continues to reach for the ‘executive suit’, Maj Gen Gaiti becomes the country’s first-ever woman to hold the office that runs one of three services in Kenya’s Defence forces (Airforce). The other two are The Army and Navy.

When former President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded the Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) to Maj Gen Fatuma Gaiti during Jamhuri Day Celebrations Garden Party at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

She first grabbed headlines in August 2015 when she was promoted to Brigadier, a post no woman had held in the male-dominated Kenyan military.

Maj Gen was later commissioned to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1985 and posted to the Kenya Air Force in 1999.

Further research on her shows that she joined the armed force by “accident.” One day when returning home from school after completing her secondary school education in 1983, she happened to pass by a stadium near the military offices, which at the time was conducting a recruitment exercise.

Major General Gaiti would make inquiries about joining, and as fate would have it, she joined the military the next year as a cadet.