Kenya defence staff college holds 30th graduation ceremony

BY JOSPHAT THIONG'O

The Kenya Defence Staff College held its 30th graduation ceremony, which saw 45 East African Region military officers graduate.

Cabinet Secretary for defence, Rachael Omamo presided over the fete where she presented various awards to the graduates who she said had undergone a year of training at the institutions in order to assume higher responsibility.

“For the past year the officers have been trained and equipped with knowledge on how to deal with 21st century problems and also how to confidently deal with security threats in the Country," said Omamo.

The CS also pointed out that acts of terrorism, drug trafficking and other illegal activities posed a risk to the country and that the graduates had been properly trained to handle the same.

“I would like to thank the government for the support in training of the officers. The College has been able to make interventions to help assist the officers in handling challenges such as security threats and drug trafficking," Omamo said.

35 of the graduates were from Kenya with the remaining 15 hailing from the East African Region such as Burundi, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Ghana, Namibia and Botswana.

According to the CS, the military officers during the training were exposed to joint warfare, Military history, Regional study and natural defence structures.

They were also awarded in various categories but it was Major General Ronald Makori from the Kenya Navy, who stole the spotlight after he was prized for being the Best student in the year long programme that had commenced on the 21st of July 2014.

Since the institution was operationalized in 1984, there has been 1,040 graduates from the Defence Staff College