Those close to Lieutenant-Colonel Damaris Agnetta, who has been picked by President William Ruto as his deputy Aide-de-Camp (ADC), says she is a very hard working and reliable military officer.
According to a statement by President Ruto’s senior communications aide Emmanuel Tallam, Agnetta will assist Colonel Fabian Lengusuranga of the Kenya Army, who is the new Aide-de-Camp, replacing Tmothy Lekolool who has been promoted to teh rank of Brigadier.
Martin Kamau, a Security analyst told ksnmedia that Agnetta becomes only the second woman in Kenya’s history to hold the coveted position.
“She is known to be a reliable officer who can not fail the head of State,” said Kamau, who is a retired military officer.
“The president has many other aides but it is very important be as comfortable as he can be having an ADC or the deputy around him,” he said.
Agnetta is expected to, occasionally, stand in for Lengusuranga when the first ADC will either be on leave or off-duty.
Others wondered whether an ADC is still relevant in this day and age.
“Ni wa nini?” Wondered K’oduor Onyango. “Hukaa fake sana,” he added.
Colonel Rachel Nduta (behind President William Ruto) has been redeployed to the Department of Defence Headquarters in Nairobi. [FILE]
In Kenya, the president has the liberty to choose his or her Aide-de-Camp.
To qualify, one has to be a member of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF).
Conel Esater Wanjiru, the Spokesperson of KDF, says contrary to popular belief, the Aide-de-Camp is not a bodyguard or personal assistant to the Head of State.
She says he or she is “a principal military officer serving the president.”
“The Aide-de-Camp’s roles include managing the president’s diary and liaising with his or her main security team,” Wanjiku told The Standard.
“The Defence Council can propose an Aide-de-Camp to the president, who has the last say on his preferred serviceman for the role,” she added.
Fabian Lengusuranga (in Kenya Army uniform) succeeded Timothy Lekolool as the new ADC of President William Ruto. [File]
According to available records, the Assistant Aide-de-Camp, currently serving President Ruto, Damaris Agnetta was commissioned in 2003, and has been serving as the artillery officer. She has also served in the United Nations Military Observer Mission.
Second female ADC
Agnetta is succeeding Rachel Nduta of the Kenya Air Force, who was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and deployed to the Department of Defence Headquarters.
Being in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, Agnetta has five more ranks in the hierarchy to reach the summit of military leadership.
The five superior ranks are Colonel, Brigadier, Major-General, Lieutenant-General and General. In the military, there can only be one General at every given time, and the holder of the rank usually serves as the Commander of the Defence Forces. Kenya has never had a female General. The current General is Robert Kibochi.
President Kenyatta oversaw a historical moment on August 17, 2018, when he appointed Nduta as Kenya’s first female Aide-De-Camp.
Rachel Nduta, a Lieutenant-Colonel at the time, was picked by the Head of State to serve as the Assistant Aide De Camp, deputising Timothy Lekolool.
Functions of Aide-de-Camp
“Aide-De-Camp” is a term borrowed from the French language.
Former ADC Timothy Lekolool, now a Brigadier, has been moved to the Department of Defence Headquarters in Nairobi. [File]
Its literal meaning is “helper in the military camp”.
The holder of the position serves as an aide to a VVIP, in most cases a Head of State or Monarch.
Simiyu Werunga, the Executive Director for Geneva Centre for Africa Security, says that all Kenyan Aides-de-Camp held at least the rank of Colonel.
“Unlike the position of the Chief of Defence Forces, which rotates among senior military officers of the Kenya Navy, Kenya Air Force or the Kenya Army, the Aide-de-Camp’s background is immaterial when the president is selecting the serviceman for that position,” said Werunga.
An ADC is a highly-trained senior military officer, who is required to be part of the president’s itinerary at all times.
The holder of the position mostly performs ceremonial duties.
Besides the ceremonial tasks such as standing behind the president and opening car doors for the Head of State, an Aide-de-Camp in Kenya has other duties.
For instance, during Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure, Lekolool was the detail leader, assistant detail leader, tactical commander, motorcade lead, advance lead, mobile agent, static agent and protective intelligence agent.
His career began at the Kibra radio station Pamoja FM, and it later moved to CGTN, formerly CCTV.
Later, he was hired by K24, a channel owned by Mediamax, before switching to Citizen TV in 2017.
Mugambi won the Outstanding Media Security Investigative Award for the year 2019.
He received praise from the Protective and Safety Association of Kenya (PROSAK) for his excellent and dependable reporting on security issues in the nation.
At the Nairobi Security Expo in 2023, he received the Security and Crime Reporter of the Year 2023 honor.
The Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has received criticism from content creator and comedian Eric Omondi for admitting that he regretted supporting his tour to the United States seven years ago.
Eric, who has argued forcefully against the Finance Bill 2023, has gone to London “for lunch” to show Mr. Kuria that he can afford to pay for his travel expenses.
The comedian pleaded with the CS in a post on his Instagram account not to accept the planned taxation of content producers so that they may also travel in Business Class without receiving financial help from politics.
“After hearing Moses Kuria speak, I decided to take myself to London just for Lunch and also thank God for how far He’s brought us. Thank you bwana Kuria for sponsoring my tour seven years ago but please don’t tax content creators 15% so that they are able to tour on their own,” he said.
Mr. Kuria criticized Eric on live television on Wednesday at the Citizen TV-hosted Big Conversation debate for criticizing the government regarding the draft Bill.
He expressed sorrow over what he claimed to have funded Eric for a vacation to the US seven years prior, claiming that he might have instead had fun with the money.
“I have heard Eric Omondi claiming he is a youth. Seven years ago I used my own money to take him to America to expose him and right now, according to the way he is talking, I wished I used that money to party because it doesn’t seem like he learned anything from it,” Mr Kuria said from Belarus.
A family from Bukhaywa village, Lurambi Constituency, Kakamega county, is calling for justice after their three-year-old son’s right hand was amputated of all the fingers due to improper treatment.
“My son had a burn on his left hand and was in a stable condition when we took him to hospital, but because of the doctor’s negligence, all his right fingers were cut off and he is disabled now,” the victim’s father Mr Zephaniah Likavo said.
Winnie Auma, the mother of the victim, claimed that the nurse was an intern who gave her son an incorrect drug injection. When she witnessed how the son’s body responded, she reported the incident to the doctor, but nothing was done about it.
“My son was crying in pain and the colour of his hand changed. I wondered what was happening and reported to the doctor, but no action was taken. Instead, he said it was normal for such a reaction to happen,” she said
The family claims they received word shortly after that their son’s fingers would need to be amputated in order to stop an infection.
The management of the hospital refuted the accusations, claiming that the family had moved their son to a different facility where his fingers had been severed.
“We treated their son and there was a challenge in finding the vein in the hand, so it affected his fingers and later they wanted a transfer to another hospital for specialised treatment. That’s where they amputated the fingers,” the official said.