The Vice Chief of Kenya Defence Forces Lieutenant General Robert Kibochi has said the enlisting of 3000 eligible Kenyans to the military will be above board.
Kibochi spoke yesterday during the official launch of the second recruitment at the Department of Defence (DoD) headquarters in Nairobi.
“Today marks the official launch of the second recruitment exercise 2018. All recruiting teams are in the respective recruitment centers and the exercise will be conducted in accordance to KDF Act.” Kibochi said.
There are 322 recruiting centers in all the sub counties across the country overseen by 16 recruiting teams under the command of Chief Recruitment Officer Brigadier George Ejalan.
Kibochi warned that those found engaging in malpractices either bribery, corruption or presenting fake academic documents will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
The 30 days exercise will be overseen by a multi-agency team comprising of Military Intelligence, National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Transparency International.
Kibochi said out of the targeted 3000 recruits, they are targeting at least 300 women in line with the KDF gender mainstreaming policy and gender mainstreaming as provided in the constitution.
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday launched Defence Ministry Gender Policy document that will see more women recruited into the Kenya Defence Forces.
Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled Defence Ministry Gender Policy and the National Defence Policy at the National Defence College to shape Kenya’s military strategy formulation.
He the two policy documents will give impetus in entrenching professionalism in the Kenya’s military organisation that has gained long distinguished service internationally.
During the first 2018 recruitment in February this year, twenty cases of malpractices were reported in which Kenyans lost Sh4.2million to fraudsters.
Nine civilians were charged in court and out of the eleven KDF soldiers implicated, five have been dismissed from the service.
In 2017, a total of Sh4.9 million was lost involving nine corruption and bribery cases.
The month-long exercise beginning next week and end in December 19, 2018.
After completion of the exercise, successful candidates will be issued with calling letters by the Senior Recruiting Officers.
The candidates are expected to have original National Identity card and academic certificates or testimonials. Photocopies or scanned ID cards and police abstracts will not be accepted.
Tradesmen category include those with technical or artisan qualifications while constables will include ex-service members aged between 30 to 55 years who possess a discharge certificate of minimum ‘very good’ conduct amongst other qualifications.
Prospective servicemen and women must be aged between 18 and 26 years old.
In February this year, KDF downscaled the number to recruits to be enlisted in the military to slightly over 2,000 compared to last year in June exercise that saw 3000 recruits enlisted in the military.
Overtime, DoD has enforced stringent measures to deter recruitment malpractices and corruption since all candidates are expected to have original National Identity card and academic certificates/testimonials.
Recruiting officers are always under instructions not to accept photocopies or scanned ID cards and police abstracts.