Defence Principal Secretary, Patrick Mariru, on Wednesday, proposed a deeper military alliance with South Africa, which stands as Africa's third-strongest military power.
Speaking at the Defence headquarters where he hosted South Africa’s acting Secretary for Defence, Dr. Thebokile Gamede, the PS emphasized the importance of enhancing collaboration between the two nations in strategic military areas.
These include; security, defence industry, military medical and health services, as well as joint military training, sentiments which his South African counterpart agreed with.
“We are headed in the right direction in enhancing our ties and we vow to deepen the same,” the PS said.
Earlier, a Joint Defence Committee (JDC) comprising senior military officials from the two countries resolved to have closer working relations.
The PS urged the committee to develop practical ideas to rationalize the existing defence agreement to conform to the current security needs of the two countries.
Dr. Gamede, on her part, underscored the importance of nurturing the 31-year diplomatic ties between Kenya and South Africa.
According to a report by Military Africa, South Africa has the third strongest military in Africa, second only to Egypt which ranks first and Algeria coming at a close second.
With a Defence budget of over Ksh625.4 billion ($4.3 billion), South Africa ranks third with an active troop numbering 78,000 and an additional 17,000 on the reserve. The Southern nation also boasts top-level, modern military equipment, including military jets, tanks and submarines.
South Africa’s powerful military force has been involved in several peacekeeping missions, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
Kenya ranks 8th behind Sudan (7th), Morocco (6th), Ethiopia (5th) and Nigeria (4th).
Currently, Kenya boasts over 24,000 active troops and 5,000 more on reserve.
Kenya is also proud of having modern military equipment including tanks, military jets, and modern artillery. The country’s military has been involved in peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and Somalia.
