The founding fathers of our nation may have toyed with the utopian idea, just before independence, that they would probably create and lead a country where tribe didn’t matter.
They failed miserably for today, we see tribe in every public service appointment, particularly in the security sector.
In fact, the day we fail to ask about the tribe of someone taking up high office, doctors must check for our collective pulse, for we may be dead.
One of the most common conversations when Kenyans discuss the military is the universally accepted narrative that retired Lt Gen Daniel Opande would have risen to become chief of the Kenyan military, if not for his ethnicity.
The General himself says in his autobiography, In Pursuit Of Peace In Africa, that his retiring boss, General Daudi Tonje, called him some time in 2000, to alert him that he would be leaving and had recommended him (Opande) for appointment as the next Chief of the General Staff. Opande was then the Vice Chief of the General Staff, the title before the 2010 Constitution.
As if on cue, UN Secretary General Koffi Annan called Opande just a few days later asking him to take up a new role as Force Commander in Sierra Leone. Gen Opande doesn’t say it, but this new availability for a UN posting appeared a little too choreographed.
There have been four presidents from two communities in this country since independence. In conforming to that pattern, the General ranks of the Kenyan military have been dominated by members of those two communities, perhaps with the exception of the Jomo Kenyatta era, when the largely Kamba-dominated military inherited from the colonialists was in place.
You wouldn’t begrudge the presidents for this because African presidents tend to see ghosts in all shadows, and feel safer when top security officers are fellow tribesmen.
In the last 40 years, there has never been any attempt to make inspiring and inspired promotions in the Kenyan military until President Uhuru Kenyatta’s wide-ranging promotions and changes last week.
The list contained appointments that can be considered ground breaking in many ways. To begin with, the new Vice Chief of Defence Forces, Lt Gen Francis Ogolla, becomes only the second ever officer from Luo Nyanza to become a three-star General, after Lt Gen Opande of course.
For a community whose state marginalisation and over-hyped role in the attempted coup of 1982 has perennially defined their place in the military, this was indeed refreshing news. This is especially coming from a presidency that had initially appeared wired to serve the interests of the two communities that won power in 2013.
The second notable first was the promotion of Brig John Mugaravai Omenda to Maj Gen, and his subsequent appointment as Commander Kenya Air Force.
He becomes the first officer from Western Kenya to ever command a service, even though the larger Luhya community has to wait a little longer for their first ever three-star general.
Some have come close to reaching there, and fell just short, notably retired Maj Gen Nick Lukale Okanga and Maj Gen George Agoi, who were thought to be easy shoo-ins for three-star in their prime.
The other striking first from last week’s changes was the promotion of at least four women to the rank of Brigadier.
When Gen Tonje initiated the revolutionary reforms that modernised the Kenyan military, which included disbanding the discriminative Women’s Service Corps and integrating women into the mainstream military, even he probably never imagined there would be four female one-star generals in his lifetime.
This is on top of a celebrated and respected female two-star general in the form of Maj Gen Fatuma Ahmed. Gen Ahmed continued to break new ground last week when she was made the first ever female Commandant of the Kenya Military Academy in Lanet.
By making these appointments, the President has given a shot in the arm to the rise of female officers, and Gen Tonje would be thrilled. It is impossible to belabor the point that last week saw the widest-reaching changes in the military in decades, and possibly also the fairest, in a an announcement that seemed to touch every branch of the military and every region of the country.
We have to challenge the President and future Commanders-in-Chief to make this a habit for sustainable nationhood. Quite often, the so called Tonje Rules are applied only when convenient, and dropped when not.
Besides, there is a false generalisation of the Tonje Rules as being only applicable in the rotations between the three services over who becomes the military chief. The truth is that the bigger picture intended by Gen Tonje was to create a military where fairness, principles and fidelity to the law reigned supreme.
This is why the country must build firmly on last week’s changes.
One can, however, not complete this story without pointing out the glaring decline of Kalenjin officers in the new pecking order. Maj Gen Albert Kendagor, the Deputy Army Commander upto last week, was promoted to Lt Gen alright, but was posted to Amisom as boss.
With utmost respect, in terms of prestige and influence, the Amisom posting is like the ‘K’ in “knife”. This is also probably the lowest Kalenjin presence in the General ranks since 1982.
I am a long term admirer of brilliant Kalenjin Generals like Tonje, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, Augustine Cheruiyot, John Koech and their peers, and the roles they played in delicate transitions in the history of this country.
My love for the military, in fact, came from watching these men of firm principles back in the day. I, therefore, hope that the rise in numbers of officers from certain regions doesn’t necessarily mean the decline of those from other regions.
I have argued here before that in a country rocked by ethnic divisions like ours, many institutions lose the trust of the population, and a nation needs one or two national institutions that can still stand on a pedestal and win the confidence of the masses.
To its credit, the Kenyan military has remained the only credible and trusted institution in the most trying times of our country, especially during the 2002 and 2007 elections, by keeping their cool heads above the fray and steering the wheel with sheer expertise.
Ahead of another crucial election in a year’s time, we need the Generals to watch our backs again, and keep a steady ship as we call each other names out in the streets, in vicious political contests. This is why it is important to keep the reform momentum and build a fair institution where each Kenyan community feels fairly represented.
Those who have worked with the men and women promoted last week say these are some of the finest people in uniform, and whose loyalty to this land and its Constitution cannot be questioned.
If Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach, the Kenyan General must certainly be above political and tribal leanings, and show the rest of us civilians how to dwell together with our complicated differences.
That was Gen Tonje’s dream when he reformed the military over 20 years ago, and we demand no less.
