Kenya Navy's Historic Display That Sparked Uproar [VIDEO]

The Kenya Navy Service on Sunday, October 20, made history during the Mashujaa Day celebrations held at the Ksh460 million Mama Ngina Waterfront in Mombasa.

It was the first time since independence that Kenyans got to witness a military ocean parade conducted by the Kenya Navy.

Aboard P3124 KNS Jasiri off-shore patrol boat built by Gondan Shipbuilders, the seamen performed a colourful 21-gun salute as they performed the first-ever sail past in Kenya's history.

"Sail past is a naval tradition that started about 200 years ago, in which naval ships in a fleet salute the Admiral or the Commander-in-Chief," the Kenya Defence Force explained on their official Twitter page.

Kenya Navy forces displaying emergency response capability using high-speed motorboats during Kenya's first-ever sail past, October 20, 2019

The special parade was being led by P3124 KNS Jasiri off-shore patrol boat built by Gondan Shipbuilders.

However, with the memories of the Likoni Ferry tragedy still fresh in the mind of most netizens, they quickly turned President Uhuru's failure to equip the country's navy with tools capable of taking charge over such disasters before they turned tragic.

"All that equipment and skills Kenya Navy have, none could be used to dive 60M into the sea," Muraya Jose posed on Twitter.

Some netizens defended the Kenya Navy men, arguing that the military men were not designated as the first responders during emergencies, adding that it was the Kenya Ferry Services who were to blame.

"With all honesty that was the Kenya ferries mandate. The Kenya navy has to be authorised and deployed to handle emergency cases. Kenya navy are not coast guards they're the military," Stephen Gitau shared.

Catch a glimpse of Kenya's first-ever sail past conducted on Mashujaa day as well as a few reactions:

A screengrab of some of the comments following Kenya's first-ever sail past, October 20, 2019.

A screengrab of some of the comments following Kenya's first-ever sail past, October 20, 2019.