
William Ruto, the president of Kenya, named the air force’s first female commander.
Making history, Maj Gen. Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed is the first female chief of a military branch in Kenya.
Following the military chief’s and others’ deaths in a helicopter crash last month, she was appointed along with other leaders, including a new head of state.
To fill the vacancy, Gen. Charles Kahariri was given a promotion.
In the male-dominated field of military leadership, Maj Gen Ahmed has already achieved numerous firsts: she was the first female to become a major general and a brigadier.
In 1983, she enlisted in the armed services and was assigned to the Women Service Corps, an organization exclusively for women that functioned independently from the other branches of the defense forces.
They provided support services like medical, administrative, logistical, and communication tasks.
Members of the unit were only permitted to enlist in the army, navy, and air force when the organization was dissolved in 1999.
Women like Maj Gen Ahmed were able to advance through the ranks and were given additional opportunity to participate in military operations as a result of the unit’s co-optation.
Her ascent has been hailed as a success in the fight for female parity in the military.
President Uhuru Kenyatta stated in 2018 that he was depending on her “to be a positive role model to women in this country” when she was elevated to major general.
The president remarked, “Prove to them that there are no limits for women.”
Maj Gen Ahmed has stated in the past that her admiration for her uncle’s military discipline and diligence “shaped my life from a very early stage” and served as her inspiration to enlist.
In 2018, she told Citizen TV that some of her family members had discouraged her from enlisting, saying “that’s not a profession for women.”
“But I was determined to make a difference in my life,” she said.
(BBC)
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