Kenya Welcomes First Female Air Force Commander

Major General Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed, was appointed on Thursday, May 2, as the Commander of the Kenya Airforce, becoming the first woman in the country to head any service in the Armed Forces.

Ahmed made history years ago after she was promoted to the brigadier rank in 2015. She was the first female military officer to attain such a rank.

Former president Uhuru Kenyatta promoted her to the Major General rank in 2018. She was also the first woman to reach such heights in KDF. 

In May 2023, Ruto posted Ahmed to the National Defence College. He appointed her senior directing staff. About a year later, Ruto entrusted Ahmed with another first by making her the commander of the Kenya Air Force. 

According to a Ministry of Defence publication, Maj Gen Ahmed was enlisted in the Kenya Defence Forces in 1983 and served under the Women Service Corps. She was commissioned to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1985 and posted to the Kenya Air Force in 1999.

She had in the past revealed that she joined the armed forces by “accident.” According to her, she was returning home from school after completing her secondary school education in 1983, when she passed a stadium near the military offices, which at the time was conducting a recruitment exercise.

Major General Fatuma would make inquiries about joining, and as fate would have it, she joined the military the next year as an officer cadet.