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General (Rtd) Samson Mwathethe EGH MBS DCO ‘ndc’(K) ‘psc’ (UK)
CHAIR OF BOARD: KENGEN
When President Uhuru Kenyatta plucked General (Rtd) Samson Mwathethe out of retirement and appointed him the chairman of the KenGen board, it was the latest in a trend where military generals, both serving and retired, are heading key government institutions in the strategic security, transport and energy sectors.
Gen (Rtd) Mwathethe retired from the military in May 2020 after serving for close to four decades. He rose from a seaman to head the defence forces and become the principal military adviser to the President and the National Security Council.
“General (Rtd) Mwathethe brings to the KenGen board immense wealth of experience in strategy and leadership, which will steer KenGen on our noble mandate to generate reliable, safe and competitively priced electric energy for the nation and diversify the business to expand the revenue streams,” Ms Rebecca Miano, the KenGen MD and CEO, said in a press statement, welcoming the chairman.
General (Rtd) Samson Mwathethe, is a Kenyan military officer. Effective April 2015 to May 2020, he was the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the highest appointment in the Kenyan armed forces. General Mwathethe was the Chief of Defence Forces, his last promotion and appointment on 17 April 2015.
He has held various command appointments including Vice Chief of the Defence Forces, Commander Kenya Navy, Deputy Commander Kenya Navy, Kenya Navy logistics Commander, Base Commander Mtongwe and Fleet Commander. His other appointments included Chief of Systems & Procurement, Department of Defence, Command of individual Kenya Navy Ships, SOII Operations at Navy Headquarters, 86 Squadron Commander, and SOI Co-ordination at the Department of Defence.
His professional and military training include International Sub-Lieutenants Course (UK), International Principal Warfare (IPWO) Course (UK), Missiles Course (ITALY) and the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich (UK) in 1989. He also attended the Defence Resource Management Course in Monterey, USA in 1998, and the National Defence College in Nairobi, Kenya in 2000.
He also served with the United Nations as a Military Observer in Kuwait/Iraq and Yugoslavia in 1991/92. His decorations include Distinguished Conduct Order (DCO) Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) among others.
General Samson J Mwathethe was born in Malindi and educated at Shimo La Tewa and Sacred Heart High Schools Mombasa, before joining the Kenya Navy in April 1978. He was commissioned in 1980 as a Seaman Officer after attending Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, United Kingdom (UK).
