Best performing students from 13 counties, and beneficiaries of Pupils Reward Scheme (PURES), visited the Ministry of Defence on Thursday September 12, 2019.
PURES is a mentorship programme that was initiated and launched on 19 May 2015, by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces Hon Uhuru Kenyatta and Her Excellency the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta to motivate pupils to work hard in their studies and cultivate a desire amongst the youth to work hard and achieve the best as they aspire to get into public leadership.
On behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) top leadership, Assistant Chief of Defence Forces Personnel and Logistics (ACDF P&L) Major General Fatuma Ahmed, welcomed the 52 students to the occasion.
She briefly gave an overview of why MOD exists and informed the guests that, its main role is to provide societal service that is security, so that other important activities can be operational. She encouraged the pupils to pay attention during the forum so as to learn more about the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The first presentation was made by Colonel Bernard Waliaula, officer in charge of Strategic Planning and Policies, which captured functions and roles of MOD primarily formulation of policies. He gave a brief history of KDF and also displayed the challenges and achievements made by MOD in its operations.
The second presentation was made by Colonel Joyce Sitienei, the Colonel Plans and Programmes at International Peace and Support Training College (IPSTC). She also briefly made a presentation on Gender Policy, which was an interactive session with the students. “Gender mainstreaming in the KDF ensures that our policies are sensitive and are tailor made to suit the needs of both genders in the service,” she said. To sum up her presentation, she played a short video clip that highlighted the various critical roles that women in KDF have undertaken as part of their call to service.
During Question and Answer session one participant asked what was the greatest fear to KDF as an entity. In her answer Major General Fatuma Ahmed said that our greatest fear was failure in the delivery of our mandate which is to defend and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our republic, Kenya.
Thereafter the students were taken to Kenya Air Force (KAF) Headquarters in Eastleigh, Nairobi where they were introduced to the roles and functions of KAF by Major Peter Obare. They also had an opportunity to learn about the various KAF squadrons.
The pupils were treated to an aircraft experience aboard the Dash-8. One student, Quinter Omondi who aspires to be a pilot in future, requested to have a look at the cock pit as well as have a mentorship session with Captain Catherine Ngaine who is a pilot in view of her aspiration.
On behalf of other pupils, Brian Kiptoo gave his vote of thanks. He said that the best part of the visit was the aircraft experience. Captain Catherine Ngaine encouraged them to have a winners’ mentality and expressed her joy for hosting them.
Finally, Colonel Joyce Sitienei on behalf of MOD appreciated the PURES project coordinator for choosing MOD as one of their places of visit. She said that they each had an equal role to play in the society and that she hoped to see them as future success stories.
Present during the event was Brigadier Kinuthia Chief of Planning and Policy, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Yatich, PURES officials, Military Officers and other service personnel.
