Kenya’s recent military shake-up saw to the naming of Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki Ngondi, who led Kenyan troops into Somalia, as the new commander of the Kenya Army.
Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki in 2011 was in charge of Kenyan troops in Somalia in the ongoing war against Al-shabaab.
The big role befell Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki when he was serving as the General Officer Commanding Eastern Region, Kenya.
KDF Special Forces preceded the rest of the Kenyan troops for their entry and mission in Somalia.
Little is however put in the public domain on the significance
of the Kenya Special Forces in the war in Somalia, but the fact is that they preceded Kenya Defence forces in Somalia, first of all capturing al Shabaab base at Kismayo, in a clean and hasty operation that established a footing for the rest of Kenya military fighters who have gone ahead to bring down radicalists.
And the man behind this operation was none other than Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki.
See also: Revealed: Kenya Special Forces, Frontline in War on Al Shabaab
Prior to his being named as the new commander of the Kenya Army, Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki has served generously in the military, both locally and internationally.
In November 2012, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced appointed Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki of Kenya as the Force Commander for the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) is a peace-keeping force established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia that followed the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War.
Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki was the General Officer Commanding Western Region Kenya, an appointment he took up in April 2012.
From November 2010, he served as the General Officer Commanding Eastern Region, Kenya. Between 2005 and 2010, he held brigade-level commands and served as Deputy Commandant of the Kenya Defence Staff College.
Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki has held staff positions at army and formation-level headquarters, and he served as a commanding officer of the Kenyan units in the United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia in 1989 and the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone in 2000.
He was commissioned as a Lieutenant of the Infantry Corps from the Kenya Military Academy at Lanet, Nakuru, Kenya, in 1979.
With Lt-Gen Leonard Muriuki at the top mantle of the military, where General Samson Mwathethe is the new Kenya Defence Forces Chief, the war against terrorists can be trusted to be won.
