General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

(retired) Samson Mwathethe, was a Kenyan

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

. Effective April 2015 to May 2020, he was the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the

Kenya Defence Forces The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) ( sw, Majeshi ya Ulinzi ya Kenya, stylized as "KENYA ARMED FORCES" capitalized on its coat of arms) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Forc ...

(KDF), the highest appointment in the Kenyan armed forces.

Background and education

He was born in the coastal town of

Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre ...

Kilifi County Kilifi County was formed in 2010 as a result of a merger of Kilifi District and Malindi District, Kenya. Its capital is Kilifi and its largest town is Malindi. Kilifi county is one of the five counties that harbor the Kenyan Coast with 109km ...

, in . He attended Shimo la Tewa Primary School, in Malindi and Sacret Heart High School, in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. In 1978, he joined the

Kenya Navy The Kenya Navy is the naval branch of the Kenya Defence Forces. It is headquartered in Mombasa. Kenya Navy has two major bases for its fleet with it being headquartered in Mtongwe Naval Base, Mombasa and Manda Bay (part of Lamu Archipelago) b ...

and was sent to the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

Dartmouth, Devon Dartmouth () is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies within the ...

, United Kingdom (UK). After graduation, he was commissioned as a Seaman, in 1980. He has taken courses at national and international institutions, including (a) an International Sub-Lieutenants Course in the UK (b) an International Principal Warfare Ordinance Course (IPWO), in the UK (c) a Missiles Study Course in Italy (d) a course at

Royal Naval College, Greenwich The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equiv ...

(e) a Defence Resource Management Course at the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

, in

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, United States and (f) a course at the

National Defence College, Kenya The National Defence College, Kenya (NDCK) is a training facility under NDU-K https://ndu.ac.ke/ for senior commanders in the Military of Kenya, including the army, navy, air force and special forces. Training is also availed to senior Kenyan civil ...

Career

Samson Mwathethe served as Vice Chief of Defence Forces, a position he held immediately prior to his appointment as CDF. He has also held command appointments in the KDF, including as (a) Commander of the Kenya Navy (b) Deputy Commander of the Kenya Navy (c) Commander of Logistics in the Kenya Navy and (d) Base Commander, Mtongwe Naval Base. He has also served as the Chief of Systems & Procurement for the Kenya Ministry of Defence, as a Commander on various Kenya Navy vessels. In May 2019, President

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

extended General Mwathethe's term for another 12 months to the end of April 2020.

Other considerations

In 1991, he served as a United Nations military observer in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, the following year. He is a decorated military officer with the Distinguished Conduct Order (DCO) and Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) medals.

References

External links

Court Martial summons KDF boss Samson Mwathethe

Succession table