In the months running to the announcement that National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Philip Kameru was retiring early, the question of who was going to replace him was being asked within security circles but no one had a definite answer.
The appointment of Noordin Haji not only came as a surprise but it will also return the NIS back to civilian control from the military for the first time in 28 years. His appointment has also completed a remarkable placement of Kenyan-Somalis in the security sector.
In Kenya’s highly politicised security sector where appointments to top positions are usually determined by tribal affiliations, the DPP did not look like an obvious pick to be President William Ruto’s top intelligence advisor.
Yet, when you ask those in security circles Haji’s name was always there as one of the people who was tipped to replace Maj Gen Kameru from as early as when it was declared that Ruto had won the election in August last year.
In fact Haji’s emergence as one of President William Ruto’s top advisors was when the head of state bypassed everyone in his circle and selected the DPP to spearhead behind-the-scenes discussions with Azimio la Umoja in April.
It was Haji’s intervention that led to the now-famous press conferences by Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga in April 3 that called off the weekly protests by Azimio la Umoja.
From soldiers to spies
Kameru has been Kenya’s highest-ranking spy since 2014 when retired President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him to replace Michael Gichangi. His term was officially supposed to end in September 2019 but Uhuru extended it to 2024.
Described as a highly intelligent professional and a critical thinker, Kameru’s supply line of information enabled Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to successfully penetrate beyond enemy lines and capture Kismayu in Somalia during Operation Linda Nchi in 2011. He was the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) then.
The DMI is so crucial to Kenya’s defence that the last three NIS Director Generals have been picked from there. The trend of picking NIS Director Generals from the military was started by late President Daniel Arap Moi in 1995 when he fired William Kivuvani who had risen through the ranks as a career spy.
Kameru’s predecessor, Gichangi who was independent Kenya’s fourth top spy was the Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre but previously served in the military as a brigadier. Gichangi’s predecessor Brigadier Wilson Boinett who served as Director NIS from 1995 to 2006 was also the Director DMI from 1988 to 1990
The fallouts
Interestingly, all the last three NIS bosses who have been picked from the military exited under controversial circumstances. Boinett was relieved of his duties by the late President Kibaki after the government lost in the 2005 referendum.
He had apparently not only warned Kibaki that they would lose but also declined to use NIS resources to fund the Yes campaign according to declassified information by Wikileaks. Worse, he was an ethnic Kalenjin who had been inherited from Moi’s regime which Kibaki’s regime deeply distrusted.
Boinett’s successor Gichangi was hired by Kibaki on account of being the first director of the Counter Terrorism Centre. At that time in 2006, the Alshabaab had just begun an offensive against Kenya by kidnapping tourists and launching small-scale attacks at will.
Yet despite his impressive CV, it was during Gichangi’s tenure that the Alshabaab carried out Kenya’s worst large-scale terrorist attack since the 1998 American Embassy bombing at Westgate in 2013. Fed-up president Uhuru asked Gichangi to resign the following year. Gichangi had in any case been inherited from Kibaki so he had to go.
Kameru who was Uhuru’s pick has had a largely successful term as Kenya’s top spy, especially on counter-terrorism. Terror attacks by Alshabaab have been minimized greatly but the other security challenges like crime, money laundering, banditry, corruption and counterfeit products still remain.
It is therefore very obvious that Ruto was never going to work with Kameru. Apart from his failures, he was part of Uhuru’s strong men that humiliated Ruto so badly when he was Deputy President that they excluded him from receiving intelligence briefs.
Infact, in the run-up to last year’s elections Ruto said in a television interview that Kameru stopped receiving his calls four years ago.
“If you spoke to the Director of Intelligence, and I am saying this because someone is listening somewhere, I have raised it with him when he would still pick up my calls. I had serious concerns about what was happening in many parts of our country, including Moyale. I remember calling him one time and telling him it can’t have gotten here,” said Ruto in March last year.
Early retirement
Those in security circles say that when Ruto was immediately declared president-elect, Kameru reached out to him and informed him of his wish to retire early. Kameru was not going to last as Director General NIS anyway. The new president agreed to his request but kept it on a waiting list for another nine long months as he crafted his new Security Council.
The National Security Council is an exclusive club of nine people who make all key decisions on matters of public interest on behalf of the country. It supervises Kenya’s security organs and formulates both foreign and domestic policy.
The council is chaired by the president who has to receive intelligence briefings every morning. Other members are Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, KDF Chief Francis Ogolla, Attorney-General Justin Muturi, Police Boss Japheth Koome and outgoing NIS Director Kameru. Others are Cabinet Secretaries in charge of Defence Adan Duale, Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua and Interior CS Kithure Kindiki.
If you read the list again you will notice that, unlike the first four Kenyan presidents, Ruto’s Security Council does not have a single person from his tribe. In fact, Uhuru and Kibaki always made sure that the Attorney General, KDF Chief and Director NIS always came from their tribes.
So when it became clear that Kameru was being edged out and all the other positions at the Security Council had been filled, everyone thought the president would make a tribal appointment like his predecessors.
The murmurs began as early as November last year when National Police Service Commissioner (NPSC) Naphtaly Ronoh was recalled back to the NIS. A career spy, Ronoh looked like an obvious pick as he was rapidly promoted from Level 9 once he got back to the NIS.
Murmurs in the castle
In fact by the beginning of May when it became clear that an announcement on Kameru’s retirement was imminent operatives close to the president thought he was going to pick Ronoh. Those who were vouching for him argued that he comes from the president’s tribe so he can be trusted.
It is said that Ruto had kept his cards so close to his chest that very few people in his circle knew he was going to pick Haji. A former ally of retired president Uhuru Haji transitioned silently to Ruto’s camp in the run-up to the 2022 elections.
Frustrated with the push by the Uhuru wing to arrest politicians allied to Ruto mostly of frivolous charges, Haji started to decline to prosecute them. Although Haji was merely applying the law in his power as DPP, those around Uhuru did not understand why he was not bending to the will of their boss.
They picked Kinoti’s side and started an onslaught against Haji embarrassing him at every available opportunity with the aim of forcing him to resign. It is believed that it is around this time that Haji retreated to Ruto’s corner.
Surprise candidate
It is said that Haji’s past experience as a spy and his networks within the intelligence industry proved useful to Ruto who had by then been kicked out of the National Security Council.
The shift to Ruto’s camp came at a price however for Haji when his house was broken into by state elements keen on showing who was boss during the last days of the Uhuru regime. It is still a mystery on how burglars managed to break into the DPP’s house which is under round-the-clock security at Riverside, Nairobi on the night of August 5, 2022.
Without revealing too much Haji has in a number of interviews explained why it happened.
“We stood firm as independent institutions despite threats and coercion. My house was broken into a few months before the election. I did not say much, but I was coerced and I was pushed to feel I was a second-class citizen of this country despite the fact that I am a Kenyan,” he said in November last year.
“Basically, those people wanted to bend the constitution to serve their own interests but I stood firm despite all those threats,” he said when he appeared on a local television station,” he said.
All these are behind now and Haji, the son of former Defense Minister and long-time Garissa politician Yusuf Haji is now set to be sworn in as Kenya’s sixth Director General of the NIS. He will also join a unique clique of Kenyan-Somalis placed at the heart of Kenya’s security system by President Ruto.
It is also the first time since independence that a Kenyan president has not entrusted the country’s security to his tribesmen. Apart from Haji, other Somalis in charge of Kenya’s security include Defence CS Adan Duale, DCI Mohammed Amin and the Director of Military Intelligence Brigadier Abdikadir Burje.