In Summary

• Kandara MP Alice Wahome has sued the state over the move, saying having Badi sit in the Cabinet is unconstitutional.

• President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 12 confirmed Badi is still a soldier, saying we will go back to the military after his job in Nairobi county.

Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general Mohamed Badi
Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general Mohamed Badi
Image: COURTESY

Major General Mohamed Badi, the new sheriff in town, is getting it all and some are not happy about it.

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general last Thursday took an oath of secrecy, giving him the green light to attend Cabinet meetings.

This has drawn criticism from various corners, with some saying the move is unconstitutional.

 
 

For instance, Kandara MP Alice Wahome has sued the state, saying having Badi sit in the Cabinet is unconstitutional. She wants him barred from attending any further Cabinet sessions.

“You cannot have an extra person sitting in the Cabinet, swearing an oath of office under the Constitution, especially when that person is a military officer. Kenya is a civilian, secular state, with a civilian government…”

“It is not possible to have a military general sitting in the Cabinet before he has even been approved by the National Assembly,” Wahome, who is also a lawyer, said on Wednesday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 12 confirmed Badi is still a soldier, saying he will go back to the military after he finishes his job in Nairobi county. Badi is expected to leave in 2022.

“My major general here is not a politician and not interested with the office of the governor, MCA or speaker. He is here for the work I have given him and after two years he will return to the military,” Uhuru said.

There are also concerns over protocol and the chain of command, as Badi will sit in a Cabinet, his boss, the Chief of Defence Forces, doesn't.

“Major General Mohammed Badi will be the first sitting military officer to be a Cabinet Secretary in charge of Nairobi Metropolitan Services. Meanwhile, his boss, General Robert Kibochi, will be nowhere near the Cabinet at least for now until KMC [Kenya Meat Commission] transfer is sorted. Interesting times,” Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, also a lawyer, said.

 
 

Away from the politics, who is Mohamed Badi, the military man President Kenyatta tapped to fix Nairobi?

Badi is a pilot and a well-known soldier in the military ranks, having served in the defence forces since 1981.

Until his appointment, Badi was a senior air director at the National Defence College.

The Master of Science in Strategic Studies degree holder served as the deputy commandant at the National Defence College and previously as a logistics helicopter pilot.

At the college, he also served as a senior directing staff - air.

During the 1999 Sierra Leone Peacekeeping mission, Badi served as a United Nations staffer.

Prior to his posting at NDC, Badi served as the commander in charge of Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, Nairobi, after his elevation from a colonel in July 2014 to the rank of brigadier by President Kenyatta.

In May 2019, the Kenya Air Force officer was promoted to major general before he was then appointed as the senior directing staff - air at the NDC.

He also studied at the War College in South Africa between January 2005 and May 2007.