President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed Kenya Defence Forces soldier to head the Kenya Coast Guard Service.
Vincent Naisho Loonena, who has had an illustrious 20-year career with KDF, will be the first ever Director General at the service.
The service is expected to, among other duties, keep the seashores safe from aggression and illegal commercial services.
The body will be governed by Coast Guard Service Council which is under the chairmanship of Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
The council will comprise of other cabinet secretaries among them Amb. Raychelle Omamo from Defence, Keriako Tobiko from Environment and Forestry and James Macharia from Transport.
Kenya loses more than Kshs10 billion revenue every year to illegal activities and the new service is expected to tame that.
“It will be responsible for protecting the country’s waters against dumping of harmful wastes and pollutants, search and rescue services and the arrest of illegal fishermen,” read the statement.
The Service was established by The Coast Guard Service Act 2018 which was operationalised on October after Matiang’i gazetted the law.
It is set for launch on Monday, November 19, by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Lewatoni, Mombasa.
Loonena was appointed to the post after a stint as the Managing Director at the Defence Forces Medical Insurance Scheme.
