#HistoryKeThread: Moi’s Awkward Promotions ————- After he took over the reins of leadership in 1978, late President Moi made unprecedented changes in the armed forces that distorted the regular hierarchical order of military command. In November of that year Moi promoted Maj. Gen. Jackson Mulinge from army commander to Lieutenant-General and Chief of General Staff, the very role in the armed forces that President Jomo Kenyatta had abolished in 1971. Brigadier Kathuka Nzioka, another Kamba, replaced Mulinge as army commander. At the time, Lieutenant-Colonel John Malan Sawe (pictured), a Kalenjin, was head of the transport services. He was promoted to deputy army commander, creating an awkward situation in which a Lt. Col. commanded Brigadiers, who were superior in rank. Three Brigadiers, including Lucas Matu, were then retired to head various parastatals, clearing the way for Sawe, who within one year (1979) had in quick succession been propelled from a Lt. Col. to a Brigadier. Matu died in suspicious circumstances soon afterwards. There were mutterings of tribalism when Nzioka also died in 1979 and Sawe was promoted to head the army, having jumped from Lieutenant Colonel to Major General in a year.

1/16 #HistoryKeThread: Massacre On Faza Island