A month after President William Ruto visited the US during a State Visit, his counterpart Joe Biden followed through on his promise of admitting Kenya as a non- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally.
On Monday, the US Head of State wrote a memorandum for the US Secretary of State to publish the presidential determination in the Federal Register.
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby designate Kenya as a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States for the purposes of the Act and the Arms Export Control Act," read the memorandum in part.
"You are authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register," the memorandum addressed to the Secretary of State added.
The Federal Register is a journal of the United States Government that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices published every weekday.
Towards the end of May, Biden officially revealed that he intended to extend the non-NATO ally status to Kenya while hosting Ruto during a State Visit.
He, at the time, noted that the invite was to take place after he held bilateral talks with President Ruto.
With the official confirmation, Kenya is set to enjoy loser security cooperation with the 32-member states including the United States.
The status will, therefore, elevate Kenya’s continental military status as it will be the first sub-Saharan country to receive such membership.
Other benefits include accessing sophisticated weapons from the United States as well as engaging in closer security cooperation with the world’s superpower.
NATO is the largest military alliance in the world. Other powerful members of NATO include; the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Canada.
The confirmation also paves the way for Kenya to host the Justified Accord exercise which is scheduled to take place in 2025.
The Justified Accord exercise will prominently feature a multinational field training exercise at the Counter Insurgency, Terrorism and Stability Operations Centre (CITSO) in Nanyuki, Kenya.
