NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 21 – At least ten senior military officials could be headed for retirement if resolutions reached by the National Defence Council are adopted by President Mwai Kibaki.
Sources familiar with the outcome of the latest series of meetings including one held on Wednesday told Capital News it was resolved ten names be presented to the Head of State who is the Commander-In-Chief.
It is understood that among those the council recommended to be retired or promoted include Vice Chief of the General Staff Lt Gen Julius Waweru Karangi, Maj Gen Mohammed Hussein Ali among others who have either attained the mandatory retirement age or have to be retired for various reasons in line with the army requirements.
Maj Ali is the Postmaster General where he was re-deployed two weeks ago after serving as Police Commissioner for nearly six years.
There is word that Maj Ali is among those the council has recommended to be either promoted and re-deployed back to the army or be retired.
"There are two scenarios presented here, he either go on retire or be promoted to become the second in command at the Department of Defense (DoD)," a source in the intelligence ranks said.
Various reasons have been advanced on why Maj Ali should be retired including a general feeling that he has been polarized by politics during his stint at the Kenya Police where he was subjected to thorough scrutiny by the public because of the office he held.
There was also a general feeling that Maj Gen Ali has earned bad publicity both locally and internationally and may taint the image of the army if retained, particularly because of the perception that public has of him.
Maj Ali has been widely accused of having run a security department which has been blamed for omissions and commissions leading to the killing of some 1500 Kenyans who were either shot or hacked to death during the 2007 disputed Presidential Elections.
He has repeatedly defended himself against those accusations and even told a panel of investigators that probed the chaos that he ‘would employ the same strategy if there was a repeat of the chaos.’
The remark angered one of the three commissioners who told a local TV channel that; "the only wise thing the commissioner of police would have done is to resign."
Sources said the Wednesday meeting has also recommended that if Lt Gen Karangi can not be named the Chief of General Staff (CGS) to succeed Gen Jeremiah Kianga, then he should be retired from the army.
"Those are basically some of the recommendations made so far, but they can only be announced by the President upon approval," a source familiar with the resolutions and affairs of the army said.
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