Editing Kenya Defence Forces (section)

===Jomo Kenyatta Administration===
Kenya's independence on the midnight of 12 December 1963 was an enormous milestone. On independence, the Kenyan Parliament created the Kenya Military Forces (KMF) through the KMF Act 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mod.go.ke/about-us/ |title=About Us|work=Ministry Of Defense, Kenya}}</ref> Thus 3 KAR, 5 KAR, and 11 KAR became 3 Kenya Rifles, 5 Kenya Rifles, and 11 Kenya Rifles respectively. The new independence government retained senior British military officers as advisers and trainers to the new Kenyan army. They stayed on, administering the former KAR units as they developed more Kenyan characteristics. The [[Kenya Regiment]] composed of British settlers was disbanded.{{sfn|Kenya Regt}}

Between 1963 and 1967, Kenya fought the [[Shifta War]] against Somali residents who sought union with their kin in the Somali Republic to the north-east.{{sfn|Baker|2003|page=83}} In late 1963, [[5th Kenya Rifles]] was sent to the [[North Eastern Province (Kenya)|North Eastern Province]] as a response to the growing number of [[Shifta]] ambushes.{{sfn|Laugesen|2021}} Also dispatched were additional police and the [[General Service Unit]]. The Shifta were lightly loaded and very mobile, and could draw on substantial support from the local Kenyan-Somali population. The army and police forcibly resettled the population into "new villages" and conducted sweeps to destroy the Shifta beyond, including making mortar attacks on assumed Shifta positions.

On the evening of 24 January 1964, the failure of the Kenyan Prime Minister to appear on television, where 11th Kenya Rifles junior soldiers had been expecting a televised speech and hoping for a pay rise announcement, caused the men to mutiny.{{sfn|Parsons|2003|p=120}} Parsons says it is possible that the speech was only broadcast on the radio in the [[Nakuru]] area where Lanet Barracks, home of the battalion, was located. Kenyatta's government held two separate [[court-martial|courts-martial]] for 43 soldiers.

In the aftermath of the mutiny and following courts-martial, the 11th Kenya Rifles was disbanded.{{sfn|Parsons|2003|p=161}} A new battalion, 1st Kenya Rifles, was created entirely from 340 Lanet soldiers who had been cleared of participation in the mutiny by the Kenyan Criminal Investigations Division (CID). Hornsby writes that after the mutiny, '[Kenyatta] improved conditions, announced pay rises to the military, speeded Africanisation, and instructed the intelligence services to infiltrate and watch the army for signs of disaffection.'{{sfn|Hornsby|2012|p=98}}

Discussions began in March 1964 between Kenya and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations [[Duncan Sandys]] on defence, and a formal agreement was signed on 3 June 1964. All British troops would leave by 12 December 1964, the British would assist the army, resource and train a new [[Kenya Air Force]], and create a new [[Kenya Navy]]. They would also provide RAF and Army units to support internal security in the north-east. Significant military loans would be cancelled, and much military property made over to the Kenyan Government. In return, British aircraft would be able to transit through Kenya, RN ships of the [[Far East Fleet]] and other units could visit [[Mombasa]], communications facilities could be used until 1966, and troops could exercise in Kenya twice a year.{{sfn|Hornsby|2012|p=98–99}} Army training deployments have continued up until 2015, as of 2015 supervised by [[British Army Training Unit Kenya]].

Timothy Parsons wrote in 2002–03:{{sfn|Parsons|2003|p=169}}
<blockquote>'..Kenyatta did not have to worry about the political reliability of the Kenyan Army because expatriate senior British military advisors ran it along [[King's African Rifles|KAR]] lines throughout the 1960s. Following the lessons of the [[Kenya Army Infantry|Lanet protects]], African officers assumed operational command of all major units, but a British training team still oversaw the Kenyan Army for most of the decade. More significantly, an informal defence arrangement with Britain reassured Kenyatta that he could rely on direct British military support in the event of an army mutiny or attempted coup.'</blockquote>

Within months of British Brigadier A.J. Hardy leaving the post of [[Commander Kenya Army]] and handing over to Brigadier [[Joseph Ndolo]] on 1 December 1966, British influence was underlined with the appointment of Major General [[Bernard Penfold]] as [[Chief of the Defence Staff (Kenya)|Chief of the Defence Staff]], a new position as senior officer of the entire armed forces.{{sfn| Hornsby|2012|p=180}} Ndolo succeeded Penfold as Chief of Defence Staff in 1969, but was retired on 24 June 1971 after being implicated in a coup plot allegedly organised by [[Joseph Owino]]. The service chiefs thereafter reported directly to the Minister of Defence, [[James Gichuru]].{{sfn|Hornsby|2012|p=228–229}} The post of Chief of the Defence Staff was only filled again seven years later ( renamed the Chief of the General Staff - CGS) when [[Daniel arap Moi]] moved Lieutenant General [[Jackson Mulinge]] from Army Commander to CGS in November 1978.{{sfn|Hornsby|2012|p=335–336}} [[Mahamoud Mohamed]] succeeded Mulinge in 1986, and was CGS until 1996. Mohamed was succeeded by General [[Daudi Tonje]], CGS 1996–2000.{{sfn|Hornsby|2012|p=554}}

Women were first recruited into the armed forces in 1971, with the establishment of the [[Women's Service Corps]]. The corps was initially made up of 150 women under Major Patricia Ineson of the British [[Women's Royal Army Corps]], before she was replaced by Phyllis Ikua, formerly of the  [[Kenya Prisons Service]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Digital |first=Standard |title=How women in military are closely watched to avoid 'sneaking around with men' |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/city-news/article/2000131966/how-women-in-military-are-closely-watched-to-avoid-sneaking-around-with-men |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=Standard Entertainment |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lot 258: Interesting Scrap & Photographic Album Relating to Major P Ineson WRAC Commanding Officer of the Kenya Womens Service Corps (WSC) |url=https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/interesting-scrap-photographic-album-relating-to--258-c-4a348e69e2 |access-date=March 1, 2023 |website=Invaluable}}</ref> [[Fatumah Ahmed]] joined the WSC in 1983.<ref name=AhmedAccident>{{cite web | url=https://nation.africa/kenya/news/I-joined-military-by-accident/1056-2845038-l6kfiwz/index.html | title=I joined military by accident: Brigadier | date=2 July 2020 }}</ref>