CORRECTION AND APOLOGY
Chief of Defence Forces Gen Julius Karangi (left) and Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo (2nd left) being welcomed at Defence Headquarters in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- In the Sunday Nation of December 29, we reported that President Kenyatta had extended the term of the Kenya Defence Forces chief, General Julius Karangi, by a year
- We have since established that President Kenyatta has not extended General Karangi’s term as it was not expiring, nor has he reached retirement age
In the Sunday Nation of December 29, we reported that President Kenyatta had extended the term of the Kenya Defence Forces chief, General Julius Karangi, by a year.
We wrote that General Karangi was due to retire this month after expiry of the first year of a two-year extension of his term granted last year by then President Mwai Kibaki; and also in keeping with the Tonje Rules that mandate retirement at 62 or after four years of service for the Kenya military commander.
We have since established that President Kenyatta has not extended General Karangi’s term as it was not expiring, nor has he reached retirement age.
The correct position is that it was President Kibaki who last December extended General Karangi’s tenure following a National Defence Council meeting that raised the retirement age for the KDF chief from 62 to 64.
The same meeting also raised the retirement age of all other senior officers.
General Karangi is therefore not due for retirement until 2015 after four years in office following his appointment in July 2011.
We take this earliest opportunity to apologise to President Kenyatta, General Karangi and to all others who were aggrieved by the erroneous report.
