Kenya’s modernized military ready to face external aggressors: Kenyatta » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 20 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has pledged to continue protecting Kenya’s territorial integrity in the wake of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in regards to the maritime boundary dispute with Somalia.

President Kenyatta was speaking on Wednesday during the commemoration of Kenya’s 58th Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kirinyaga County where he reiterated Kenya’s position on the boundary issue.

On October 12, the UN-backed ICJ ruled that that there is no agreed maritime boundary that exists between Kenya and Somalia, even though it handed Somalia most of sea zone claimed by Kenya.

Kenya got only a small slice of a potentially oil and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean in a majority ruling by the court.

“Since the dawn of our Republic, on many occasions, we have experienced territorial aggression to the sanctity of our borders, some have been driven from within and others from without, but the message of our founding fathers to theses aggressors was simple, not an inch less not an inch more and this is the message that must reverberate across the collective quarters that are bent on annexing any part of the territory known as the Republic of Kenya,” said Kenyatta.

President Kenyatta had termed the ruling erroneous adding that Kenya is committed to a diplomatic process to resolve the impasse.

The Head of State further stated that the transformation of security sector in the country including the military has been among his administration’s key agenda.

“This visible transformation of our security organs has been done in honour of their sacred national duty of defending our sovereignty, maintaining our territorial integrity, securing our borders, and preserving our cherished freedoms and our way of life. As an affirmation of this, today, Kenya’s police to population ratio is at its highest level in our history, and is higher than the U.N. prescribed standard,” President Kenyatta stated.

He further pointed out that his administration had rolled out a successful campaign over the years to modernize the military in a bid to guarantee the security of the country.

“In the last eight years we have undertaken the most consequential and expansive modernization of our military in our nation’s history. We continue to tool and re-retool our security resources to the highest standards; so as to keep our people safe and secure and to preserve our territorial integrity in a just, fair, democratic and safe country for all,” he added.

“In addition, we are building four additional hospitals to cater for them and their dependents, in recognition of the heavy toll placed on them and their families,” he added.