Why Uhuru is appointing military men to key positions

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday appointed a military man to a key government position.

The President appointed Major-General Mohamed Abdalla Badi the Director-General of the newly-created Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).

The NMS will take over governance and administrative duties of Nairobi County after Governor Mike Sonko surrendered City Hall to the State last month.

Mr Kenyatta’s move further cemented the perception that the Head of State has a penchant for appointing military and intelligence officials to critical institutions facing crises.

Before his appointment to NMS, Maj-Gen Badi was the senior directing officer in charge of Kenya Air Force staff training at the National Defence College (NDC).

Prior to his posting at the NDC, Badi served as the base commander in charge of Moi Air Base after he was promoted to the rank of brigadier in 2014.

Badi is expected to crush cartels at City Hall that have continuously held the capital to ransom.

Badi joins a list of more than a dozen top officials from the military and the NIS who have joined the civil service in the past six years.

Kenya Defence Forces and NIS training academies emphasise on values such as discipline and integrity, and the two institutions appear to have earned trust in Mr Kenyatta’s administration.

In December, the President appointed Nicodemus Musyoki Ndalana the regional commissioner for North-Eastern. Ndalana was previously the assistant director in charge of border control at NIS.

The President picked Ndalana to replace Mohamed Birik, who was recalled to Harambee House, after he was presumed to have failed in taming terrorism activities in the region.

Other former military and NIS officials handpicked by Mr Kenyatta include Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak, Director of Immigration Services Alexander Muteshi and the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji.

Mr Mutyambai succeeded a former NIS man, Joseph Boinnet, who was the first NIS officer to move to a mainstream security docket and later credited with restoring the relationship between NIS and the police, which led to a decline in terror attacks in the country.

Haji, Mbarak and Muteshi were all serving as deputy directors at NIS before their appointments. Mbarak had served with the military intelligence before moving to the civil intelligence agency.

Muteshi replaced Major-General (Rtd) Gordon Kihalang'wa who was moved to the State Department for Public Works.

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