Raila cautioned against politicizing withdrawal of KDF from S.Sudan
By Edward Kabasa/Christine Muchira
State House has cautioned CORD leader Raila Odinga against politicizing the withdrawal of Kenya Defence Forces troops serving in South Sudan.
While responding to Odinga’s claims that the withdrawal was unconstitutional, State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the decision by President Kenyatta to withdraw troops from South Sudan was made with authorization from the National Security Council as provided in Article 240 of the Constitution.
On Monday, Raila claimed that the unilateral decision by the President to withdraw troops from the UN Mission in South Sudan and the further announcement that Kenya will discontinue its contribution of troops to the proposed regional protection force goes against Kenya’s policy of engaging with the world.
State House has dismissed Odinga’s claims, saying the recall of troops was an exclusive operational mandate of the President, his Chief of Defence Forces and Service Commanders.
Manoah says Odinga has consistently misunderstood Kenya’s Military, which has remained nonaligned since independence, advising the CORD leader to stop dragging the Defence Forces into the realm of politics.
Article 240 of the Constitution states that “the National Security Council may with the approval of Parliament, deploy national forces outside Kenya for regional or international peace support operations.”
State house noted that Kenyan soldiers are in peace keeping for the peace and security of Kenya, the region and the world and not because of allowances and stipends.
“Our soldiers do not put their lives on the line because of allowances and stipends but are in peace keeping for the peace and security of Kenya, the region and the world,” noted Manoah.
However, Odinga has argued that it is not clear whether these procedures were followed, saying that Parliament was certainly not involved.
On 1st November, the UN announced that it had sacked Lieutenant-General Johnson Magoa Kimani Ondieki as the head of its peace-keeping mission in South Sudan for allegedly failing to respond to an attack on a Juba hotel in July.
It was this decision that prompted Kenya to announce the withdrawal of her troops from the troubled nation.
State House Spokesperson mentioned that questioning the professionalism of Lieutenant-General Ondieki by extension is an attempt to delegitimize the long-standing professional conduct of our military.
“The attempt to bring into question the professionalism of Lieutenant-General Johnson Mogoa Ondieki by extension is an attempt to delegitimize the long-standing professional conduct of our military who have participated in many peace-keeping missions”, said State House Spokesperson.
Adding that it casts unwarranted aspersions on our gallant military, which is unacceptable to the Commander-in-Chief, his Service Commanders, his officers and the people of Kenya.
