Kenya military ranked 11th most powerful in Africa as spending rises

Kenyan troops on patrol: The agency says war is driven by financing. PHOTO | FILE 

By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Global Firepower ranks Kenya’s military as the best in East Africa based on its manpower, equipment, geographical location, logistics and finance.
• The country had 24,150 fighters in the military last year and an additional 5,000 reserve personnel.

Kenya has been ranked as the eleventh most powerful military in Africa amid increased spending by the country on military hardware.

Global Firepower, an agency that assesses military strength of nations, ranks Kenya’s military as the best in East Africa based on its manpower, equipment, geographical location, logistics and finance.

Kenya has an active arms stockpile of 76 battle tanks, 591 armoured fighting vehicles, 30 self-propelled guns, 25 towed artillery, 132 aircraft, 17 fighter jets, and 62 helicopters, according to Global Firepower.

The rankings put DRC, Sudan and Ethiopia ahead of Kenya.

“Going beyond military equipment totals and perceived fighting strength, is the actual manpower that drives a given military. Wars of attrition favour those with more,” it says.

Kenya had 24,150 fighters in the military last year and an additional 5,000 reserve personnel.

Egypt, which receives billions of dollars in US military aid, tops the list of Africa’s fearsome armies, followed by Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa in that order.

Egypt had 470,000 personnel in military last year and boasted 4,624 tanks, 13,949 armoured fighting vehicles, 889 self-propelled guns, 336 fighter jets, 2,360 towed artillery and 1,481 multiple-launch rocket systems.

The rankings come amid increased spending by Kenya on arms acquisition.

Kenya splashed Sh96.3 billion ($954 million) on modernising its weapons last year, up from Sh82.7 billion ($819 million) in 2014, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an arms trade monitoring agency.

This made Nairobi the region’s second largest spender on arms last year, after South Sudan. “Regardless of strength in numbers, war is still driven by financing as much as weapons.”

In East Africa, Kenya Defence Forces was placed ahead of Uganda and Tanzania, which took positions 16 and 17 respectively on the continent.

Forces from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia are fighting Somalia-based Al Shabaab militants in the war-torn nation under UN-sponsored Amisom.
Countries that are ranked ahead of Kenya include Nigeria, Morocco and Angola.

“The Global Firepower ranking is largely on each nation’s potential conventional war-making capability across land, sea and air,” the agency says.