President William Ruto reveals the events that led to the appointment of General Francis Ogolla as Chief of Defence Forces.
When it came time for me to make a decision on the next CDF, it was not an easy decision as it should; it’s always a decision of many balances. All the recommendations I got on the next CDF, and all the advice I got did not include Ogolla’s name, unfortunately, but he was a military officer with a distinguished career.
There was only one problem, the events of August 15, 2022, at the Bomas of Kenya and so I asked Ogolla for a meeting and had a one-on-one, man-to-man, come-to-Jesus meeting with him and when we concluded the meeting he said the following ‘Mr President I have no defence. I will not try to defend myself, it was wrong what happened and you have three choices, either send me to Court Martial, have me retire or forgive me.’
I went home after that meeting and I reflected on what General Ogolla had told me and in that reflection, I thought of my own ICC conspiracy story and my own episode at the ICC in Hague where certain circumstances had conspired and I was there.
Secondly, I also reflected on the brief I had been given when I came to office as President and I was told there are 4 sensitive positions, that of IG police, Interior, NIS and CDF.
I had been told you have to be careful who you appoint to these offices because they mean a lot and are very sensitive.
I had even been told that please don’t be shy to appoint members of your community, you will be safe. I had made a conscious deliberate decision that we were going to take a different trajectory as a country where merit, professionalism and competence must come before ethnicity and I made up my mind that General deserved to be the Chief of the Defence Forces of Kenya.