Policy Development Ministry

Vision

A premier, credible and mission capable force deeply rooted in professionalism.

Mission

To defend and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kenya, assist and cooperate with other civil authorities, in situations of emergency or disaster and restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability as assigned.

Mandate

To defend and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kenya; assist and cooperate with other authorities in situations of emergency and disaster; and upon approval of the National Assembly, may be deployed to restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability.

Structure of the Ministry

It consists of three forces namely Chief of the Defense Forces (CDF) is the professional head of the three Kenya Defense Forces Services and the Principal Military Advisor to the Commander in Chief. He is also responsible for the control, direction and general superintendence of the Defense Forces.

The Principal Secretary is the accounting and authorized officer on financial and administration matters of the Ministry of Defense. He/she is also personally accountable to Parliament for the expenditures of all public moneys provided for the Ministry of Defense.

Structure of the shadow Ministry

The Ministry is headed by the Shadow Cabinet Secretary who is responsible to the Party leader on matters of Defense policy. The shadow Cabinet Secretary is appointed by the party leader to formulate, review and advise the party on matters that involves the Defense. It puts on check the current legally established Ministry of Defense.

Jubilee vs Thirdway Alliance manifestos

Thirdway alliance alternative leadership under the shadow ministry of Defence is as follows:

1. The level of terrorism has gone up and become sophisticated. Our government is still stuck in acquiring “specialized vehicles” in the name of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) which have been blown off by the lightest of explosives. If we can actually remove corruption and have real APCs and give more specialized drones for surveillance in the remote areas, then we will protect our territory from terrorists.

1. Terrorism is taking a new dimension and our government hasn’t realized this. The new front and form of terrorism is cyber-terrorism. As recent as May 2017 over 100 countries had cyber-terrorism attacks. As the Thirdway alliance Kenya we have seen the potential threat that a country can be exposed to and have thought of creating a cyber-terrorism unit within the Kenya Defense unit to work in liaison with the interior ministry.

1. Finally, we have this serious matter of our sons and daughters in foreign land. The 2007/8 government's decision to take troops to Somalia was ill advised and Kenya has paid with many and unnecessary deaths. Kenyan economy cannot afford wars. We should let the Somali people to solve their internal problems; and assist them without necessarily compromising our own security. 

We cannot fight another country's war.

Conclusion

The Kenyan constitutional under article 241 section 3(a) (The Defense Forces are responsible for the defense and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic). Every government’s duty is to protect its citizen. This calls for the sitting government to do all that is in its capability to protect its borders from foreign invasion. By shadowing the ministry, we will make sure the government does this without failure. We will do it in a constructive way and offer alternatives. Whenever they stray from this constitutional mandate then we will offer direction but we will also commend them whenever they do the right thing.

Rotah Ricky

SCS-Ministry of Defense