Former Unionist Dr Kinity Slams Ruto Government Over ‘Starving’ KDF Officers, Demands Urgent Pay Review
The Mt Kenya Times 
Former Kenya Civil Servants Union Secretary General and US-based human rights advocate Dr Isaac Newton Kinity
By Daisy Moraa
Former Kenya Civil Servants Union Secretary General and US-based human rights advocate Dr Isaac Newton Kinity has issued a stern and emotional appeal to the Government of Kenya, accusing the current administration under President William Ruto of abandoning the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and subjecting their officers and families to poverty, hunger and humiliation.
In a detailed letter addressed to the President of the AFL-CIO, Dr Kinity said soldiers, some of whom are deployed to fight terror groups like Al-Shabaab in Somalia, earn as little as KShs 7,000 per month. This is equivalent to 55 US dollars or 1.89 dollars per day. He argues this amount is shockingly inadequate compared to the current average cost of family basic needs in Kenya, which stands at KShs 50,000 or 390 US dollars per month.
“How can a soldier earning KShs 7,000 survive, let alone support a family?” he asked. “These are men and women who defend the country with their lives. Yet their own children are starving at home. Their wives live like beggars.”
Dr Kinity revealed that the situation within military barracks has worsened under the Ruto administration, which recently scrapped the long-standing lunch subsidy for KDF personnel.
“The Kenya Army officers are not only starving at the barracks where they are being fed substandard meals, but the provision of lunch at the barracks, which has existed for decades, was scrapped a few months ago by President William Ruto,” Dr Kinity stated.
He described the move as not only inhumane but also demoralising to service members whose work is already dangerous and physically demanding.
In response, Dr Kinity said he has written to multiple arms of government including the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kenya Parliament and the Office of the President, calling for an immediate salary review and reinstatement of meal subsidies. However, his appeals have been ignored.
“I have written to the Kenya government over the plight of the KDF, but my plea has landed on deaf ears,” he said.
Dr Kinity also reached out to Francis Atwoli, Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K), demanding action on behalf of the underpaid and overstretched military officers, but says he received no response.
“I wrote to Mr Francis Atwoli regarding the shameful salaries paid to KDF officers. Just like the government, he chose silence,” Kinity said.
In addition, he has used media platforms, public letters and online video statements to raise the alarm and demand accountability. He argues that the continued silence from leaders is evidence of an entrenched culture of impunity where essential service providers are left to suffer.
“These officers are desperate. They have been abandoned by the executive, by the legislature and by Parliament,” he said. “They return from conflict zones to find empty plates at home. Their dignity is gone.”
Dr Kinity drew comparisons between the current government and previous regimes, accusing all of perpetuating injustice against public servants and the poor.
“President Ruto’s government has shown no concern for the well-being of KDF officers,” he said. “But this is not new. Under Uhuru Kenyatta, there was massive looting of public resources, and civil servants were turned into slaves with no room to speak. During Moi’s regime, it was even worse. Those who spoke the truth were either jailed, assassinated or unlawfully dismissed. I have lived through all these eras. The suffering has only changed faces.”
In the year 2000, Dr Kinity successfully rallied international pressure against the Moi regime. He approached Mr John Sweeny, then President of the AFL-CIO, and informed him of a 1980 presidential decree by Daniel arap Moi that had outlawed the Kenya Civil Servants Union.
“After only two months, President Moi rescinded the decree,” he recalled. “That one letter changed the future of thousands of Kenyan workers. That’s why I believe that international pressure works.”
He is now calling on the current AFL-CIO President, Madam Liz Shuler, to take similar action to protect Kenya’s military officers.
“Madam President, I am therefore pleading with you to help the KDF women and men in uniform in Kenya,” he wrote. “They are desperate. They have been forgotten. We must act.”
Dr Kinity added that the barriers to free expression within the military make it difficult for officers to speak up about their mistreatment or demand change.
“These men and women are not allowed to speak or protest,” he said. “But we on the outside must speak for them. We must remind the government that these soldiers are not slaves. They are human. They deserve better.”
He further condemned the rampant corruption, political repression and killings that have been witnessed under consecutive regimes in Kenya.
“Kenya is a country where those who speak the truth are either assassinated, framed or silenced. The corruption continues while the common people, including soldiers, suffer in silence. Successive governments have maintained the same script, control through fear, theft and lies.”
Dr Kinity, who currently serves as Chairman of the Kikimo Foundation for Corruption and Poverty Eradication (USA), vowed to continue championing the welfare of oppressed Kenyans, especially soldiers who cannot air their grievances publicly.
His letter has been formally copied to the Clerk to the National Assembly, Kenya Parliament and Mr Francis Atwoli, in the hope that relevant authorities will finally take action.
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