Kibaki`s tribalism in the military

The general feeling in the military today is that tribalism has reached its apex. Some guys who me we went to school with and are currently serving in the forces are of the opinion that tribal discrimination has reached the level it was prior to the overthrow of Daniel arap Moi in 1982. Moi was overthrown for various reasons but one was that the soldiers were unhappy with blatant tribalism when it came to promotions.

Its was said then that the rank of major upwards was given not due to competence but political connections. A friend of mine has narrated of how a former powerful cabinet minister’s son was promoted so fast through the ranks yet he was rarely at the base nor was he ever seen in training anywhere except for those that were done in Europe or US. Soldiers who held higher ranks were afraid to give orders to the man. He retired from the military after serving three years but by then he was a major a rank that took one of my friends 15 years to attain.


We know that the moment a wrong tribe is set to take over as the head of the armed forces reshuffles are doen and before you know it he is an ambassador to Somalia or something like that. Take the case of General Opande who could have been Chief of Staff ages ago but whenever the chances comes he is posted for a peace keeping mi