General Francis Ogolla's memorial service at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on April 20, 2024.
The political undercurrents witnessed during the funeral of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Francis Ogolla revealed a culture that is both disgusting and endearing. Disgusting because what should be solemn and dignified occasions are too often hijacked by bare-knuckle politics.
But endearing because also put on display—often in front of international lenses, as with the General’s funeral—is Kenya’s freewheeling democracy and unrestrained freedom of expression, where even the presence of President William Ruto will not enforce fearful silence.
During the military send-off at Ulinzi Sports Complex, Nairobi, on Saturday and the funeral service ahead of the burial at the Gen. Ogolla’s Ng’iya Village in Siaya County, political jostling was very much in evidence.
At issue has been the circumstances surrounding the 2022 presidential elections, specifically events at the Bomas of Kenya National Tallying Centre as a tense nation awaited the delayed outcome of a tight presidential elections.
Just before the results were announced, Gen Ogolla, then the Vice-CDF, had joined a National Security Advisory Committee delegation that allegedly tried to prevail on Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati to ‘moderate’ the count in opposition chief Raila Odinga’s favour.
This was an issue that would return to haunt Gen. Ogolla and almost ruin his career. He was next in line of succession in the military hierarchy but the new president could easily have by-passed him.
However, President Ruto surprised everyone by settling on Gen. Ogolla to succeed the outgoing Gen. Robert Kibochi as the CDF in April last year.
Gen. Ogolla’s death in a fatal military helicopter crash on April 18—that also killed nine other officers and soldiers—forced a revisiting of the Bomas of Kenya mess, and President Ruto’s magnanimous and politically astute decision to promote him to the top military command. At both the Ulinzi and Ng’iya services, President Ruto felt constrained to explain his appointment of Gen. Ogolla despite misgivings within his inner circle.
At Ulinzi, the President affirmed that, indeed, Gen. Ogolla was part of the security committee team that visited Bomas but he had explained himself and the matter ended there. At Ng’iya, Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale went further, revealing that the General had produced text messages from the time expressing his discomfort with the political nature of the Bomas mission.
Suspicion of foul play
This could well bring into focus the role played by the then-CDF Kibochi and then-President Uhuru Kenyatta in the whole imbroglio.
The political skulduggery of the last elections aside, there were also the suspicion of foul play in Gen. Ogolla’s death. At Ng’iya, President Ruto was forced to emphasise in his speech that political assassinations and extra-judicial killings would never occur under his leadership. This was in response to demands by a host of opposition leaders that the truth be told about Gen. Ogolla’s death.
Siaya Governor James Orengo, Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga (who represented his younger brother Raila, conspicuously absent and supposedly indisposed but very much in evidence at a football match in Nairobi in the afternoon) and Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi all insisted on the Luo community demand for a transparent and conclusive probe to allay suspicion of foul play. They were backed by Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party leaders Martha Karua and Kalonzo Musyoka.
In the immediate aftermath of the chopper crash, Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen appointed a seven-member team to probe aircraft accidents. This was widely reported as a probe into Gen. Ogolla’s death but a closer reading of the notice reveals that it is an inquiry of a more general nature into the frequency of aircraft crashes in Kenya over the past few years, as well as incidents involving Kenyan aircraft in neighbouring South Sudan and Somalia.
It was not clear at all whether the inquiry would include military aircraft, which are usually outside the scope of civilian air regulatory authorities.
A full probe into the crash that killed Gen. Ogolla might not reveal any planned killing but could expose the secretive and murky world of military procurement. This is a world where those with connections to the highest offices in the land rake in billions but defence forces suffer old and dilapidated equipment that must be responsible for the alarming rate of aircraft falling out of the skies and general equipment failures that definitely comprise national security.
That is the information that will be hidden from the public under the guise of national security but, in actual fact, to protect the greedy and powerful cabals that do business with the military.
[email protected]. @MachariaGaitho
