The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force. The current KDF was established, and its composition stipulated, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya; it is governed by the KDF Act of 2012. Its main mission is the defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kenya, recruitment to the KDF is done on yearly basis. The President of Kenya is the commander-in-chief of the KDF, and the Chief of Defence Forces is the highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya.
The president of the Republic of Kenya is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Kenya. The president is also the head of the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. The country's current president is William Ruto since 13 September 2022.
The Kenya Police Service is a national body in charge of law enforcement in Kenya. It is subordinate to National Police Service which is headed by Inspector General of Police who exercises independent command over the Service. Kenya Police is headed by Deputy Inspector General. Kenya Police is divided into Service Headquarters in Nairobi, Formations, General Duty Commands and Training Institutions.
Levi Karuhanga was a major general in Uganda. He was the Chairman of the UPDF General Court Martial, one of the highest military courts in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). He was appointed to that position in June 2014 by Yoweri Museveni, the commander in chief of the UPDF and the president of Uganda. He replaced Moses Ddiba Ssentongo whose one-year tenure at the court had expired. Karuhanga had previously served as the Commander of the Reserve Force in the UPDF.
The Kenya Navy is the naval branch of the Kenya Defence Forces. It is headquartered in Mombasa.
Major-General Joseph Kasaine Ole Nkaissery was a Kenyan politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Kenya from 2002 to 2014, when he resigned to take up a cabinet position as Secretary for Internal Security and Coordination of National Government. He was also a senior elder of the Maasai community until his sudden death on 8 July 2017.
Mohamed Yusuf Haji was a Kenyan politician. He was the Minister of Defence of Kenya from 2008 to 2013, and briefly served as its acting Minister of Internal Security and Provincial Affairs in 2012. He has served in the Senate of Kenya since 2013 under the jubilee party. He died on 15 February 2021.
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) is the highest-ranking military officer in the Kenya Defence Forces and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya and the National Security Council. The CDF outranks all respective heads of each service branch and has operational command authority over the service branches. He leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Service Commander, comprising the CDF, the Commander of the Kenya Army and Kenya Air Force, Kenya Navy and the Commandant of Military Intelligence. The CDF has offices in Ulinzi House. Following the 2010 Constitution, the Chief of the General Staff was replaced with the Chief of the Defence Forces.
The Kenya Army is the land arm of the Kenya Defence Forces.
Major General Fredrick Mugisha, commonly referred to as Fred Mugisha, is a senior military officer in the Uganda People's Defence Force and assumed command over AMISOM as the fourth commander on 15 June 2011.
Operation Linda Nchi had the Kenya Defence Forces enter southern Somalia beginning in 2011. The Kenyan government declared the operation completed in March 2012, but its forces then joined AMISOM in Somalia.
The Battle of Kismayo was an offensive led by the Kenya Defence Forces, under the codename Operation Sledge Hammer, to seize the port city of Kismayo, Somalia, from Al-Shabaab from 28 September 2012. Fighting alongside the Kenya Army were Raskamboni movement militia and the Somali Army.
The Somali–Kenyan conflict has been an issue within Kenya since the colonial period. Problems have ranged from skirmishes between the two communities and have led to terrorist attacks, police harassment, extortion, home invasions, physical violence, and massacres perpetrated against Somalis and Kenyans.
The National Defence College, Kenya (NDCK) is a training facility under NDU-K https://ndu.ac.ke/ for senior commanders in the Military of Kenya, including the army, navy, air force and special forces. Training is also availed to senior Kenyan civil servants and senior military officers from African countries and other continents.
Lieutenant General Sir Robert Andrew Magowan, is a senior Royal Marines officer who serves as the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff since May 2022. He previously served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2016 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2022.
General (retired) Samson Mwathethe, is a Kenyan military officer. Effective April 2015 to May 2020, he was the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the highest appointment in the Kenyan armed forces.
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Roland Vincent Walker, is a senior British Army officer, serving as Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff since April 2021. He will take up the post of Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, in 2024.
The Kenya Special Forces are units tasked with special operations found within the three branches of the Kenya Defence Forces and are under Special Forces Operations Command. The Army has the largest number of these units under the Army Special Operations Brigade (Kenya) containing the 20th Parachute Battalion (20th Paras), 30th Special Forces Battalion (30 SF) and 40th Ranger Strike Force (40 RSF). The Air Force has a Rapid Deployment Squadron (RDS) tasked with retrieving airmen behind enemy lines and it is the most recent addition to Kenya's specialized military units. The Navy has two units under its Special Operations Squadron which are the Clearance Diving Unit (CDU) and the main Special Boat Unit (SBU) formed with American assistance in the mid 2000s. The Special Operations Training School (SOTS) in Gilgil, Naivasha serves as the premier training establishment for all potential special forces operators. Kenyan special forces have been deployed in Southern Somalia, the Frontier counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa on the border with Somalia, Boni Forest near the Somali border and Eastern DRC
Lieutenant General Peter Mbogo Njiru, is a Kenyan military officer, who serves as the Commander, Kenya Army, since July 2022. The Kenya Army is a service branch of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). Before his present assignment, General Njiru was the commander of the Kenya Joint Command and Staff College, at the rank of Major General.
General Francis Omondi Ogolla was a Kenyan military officer who served from April 2023 to April 2024 as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
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