Only a very foolish country can treat its gallant soldiers badly

I was watching a guard of honour by the Kenya Air Force at State House the other day and something seemed off. I couldn’t put a finger on it for a long time. And then it clicked: It was the uniform.

I know very little about military affairs and other than a short stint at the National Youth Service, which marches with spades rather than guns, my fighting abilities are restricted to running away.

But I do know that the soldier’s Dress Number One, the ceremonial dress they wear at formal official State functions, is the height of military elegance and pride. It is the uniform they get married in and buried in, the one they wear when they go to see the commander.

I noticed the uniform was not sharp at the edges and the pockets were bulging. The material appeared to be resisting the application of pasi.

Could it be, I ask myself, that a proud military with a budget of Sh98.7 billion is going to the same tailor as the Inspectorate Department of the Nairobi City County?

Or am I just making trouble? I know I should have been offended, as a hard-boiled journalist, when I was told that some fellow had described me as a “rabid nationalist”.

That was a simplification, surely. Journalists of my generation were taught to distinguish between the government and the country; the government is fair game, my country right or wrong. I have also never concealed the fact that my father fought in the Mau Mau and served seven years in a string of jails at the Coast. I grew up seeing guerrillas who had spent a lot of time in prison in their youth but whose cold eyes would moist at the sight of the national flag.

For folks of my generation, this country is very important in our lives. Governments aren’t. The armed forces are an integral part of national identity. “Armies don’t go to war,” Maj-Gen Hussein Ali once lectured me. “Countries do.”

Kenyans are the most unmartial people in the world. Out of the 44 million of us, only a few have ever handled a weapon, even a bow and arrows. We therefore tend to hold military people in high regard and we have an instinctive faith in the Kenya Defence Forces as an organised place where things are done properly, even as we consider the rest of the country as going to hell.

I have met many Kenyan generals and I have been impressed at how well-read and polished they are. They are gentlemen warriors, I thought, smooth but tough.

But all is not well with the military. And I don’t mean selling the charcoal in Somalia. We refrain from criticising the military so as not to demoralise the thousands of young people who are deployed in Somalia and inside Kenya to combat al-Shabaab.

NOT EXEMPLARY

But it is not lost on anyone that the performance of our troops has been anything but exemplary out there.

We still don’t know what happened in el-Ade, or to whom it happened.

Is it possible for commanders not to care about the welfare of the men and women in their charge? Is it possible for senior officers to elevate the thirst for money above the image of the military and the welfare of the troops they lead?

There is serious corruption in the Kenya Defence Forces. Our troops have gone to war with equipment they complain is substandard—vehicles they say are supposed to be armoured but are penetrated by bullets, flak jackets that do not offer full protection, fighter jets which are not available to provide air cover because they have never flown—and lack of mission clarity.

Kenyan troops are not a happy lot. Because they can’t sing in the streets, they are disadvantaged. They are not particularly well paid and now some of them say they are not well taken care of. It is only a very foolish country that treats its soldiers badly.

Powerful folks in the military are thought to be making money hand over fist out of the war being fought.

Others are only interested in protecting the good name of the military in the silly hope that “internal matters” should be dealt with from within.

But President Kenyatta must not allow the military to sweep under the carpet complaints by enlisted men and women about pay, allowances, compensation for death and injury in the line of duty.

At the same time, he should take seriously complaints about corruption and profiteering in the armed forces and address them with resolute speed.

Additionally, he should use military channels to assure those who are fighting both inside and outside the country that their sacrifice is not in vain, that he cares about their lives and welfare and that he will deal ruthlessly with those involved in corruption.

In the meantime, everyone, please feel free to blame the media for the problems you have created by your unprofessionalism and accuse us of fomenting trouble in heaven.

And yes, I do hope we are not buying military uniform from some Chinese River Road.

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