In June, the then President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a bill that would allow veterans from the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) and their dependents to reap benefits from their service.
Contents of the bill titled the Military Veterans Bill, 2022, included the establishment of the Dependents' Education Fund by the Defence Council.
The Fund was designed to provide scholarships for education of the children of deceased military veterans.
Other benefits provided by the Act include the creation of an advisory committee on military veterans that will advise and make recommendations to the Defence Council, Cabinet Secretary or Director of Military Veterans on any matter relating to the military veterans or their dependents.
The veterans will also be subjected to counselling and treatment, physical rehabilitation, education and skills development as well as facilitation of business advice.
To reap the benefits, however, the individuals must first apply to be recognised as KDF veterans to qualify.
How to Apply
Since the bill was signed into law, all veterans were required to apply and register with Ministry of Defence for fresh vetting and issuance of new Veterans identification cards.
The applicants are required to have a copy of their ID Card in JPEG, PNG or PDF formats, a copy of their passport size photo as well as a copy of their discharge book.
Other requirements include dependent’s ID card copies as well as dates of Enlistment and Run Out Date (ROD).
To register, applicants are advised to visit veterans(dot)mod(dot)go(dot)ke/register where they will be required to fill a form requiring their full name, email, phone number as well as service number.
The applicants are also expected to get an OTP sent to their mobile phone numbers by clicking on (Send OTP). In case they don’t receive an OTP? They are advised to dial *456*9*5*5*1# to enable promotional messages.
Applicants should then enter the code sent to their phone number then check/click on ‘‘I have read and agreed to the instructions of this application’’.
They should then await a member of the council to reach back to them.
