Chief of Defence Forces (Kenya)

The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) is the highest-ranking military officer in the Kenya Defence Forces and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya and the National Security Council. The CDF outranks all respective heads of each service branch and has operational command authority over the service branches. He leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Service Commander, comprising the CDF, the Commander of the Kenya Army and Kenya Air Force, Kenya Navy and the Commandant of Military Intelligence. The CDF has offices in Ulinzi House. Following the 2010 Constitution, the Chief of the General Staff was replaced with the Chief of the Defence Forces.[1]

Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces
Standard of the Kenya Defence Forces
Incumbent Robert Kariuki Kibochi since 11 May 2020
National Security Council
Abbreviation	CDF
Member of	Kenya Defence Forces
Reports to	President of Kenya
Residence	Ulinzi House
Seat	Ulinzi House
Nominator	Defence Council
Appointer	President of Kenya
Term length	Serve a single term of four (4) years or retire upon the attaining of the mandatory retirement age
Constituting instrument	Article 241 of the Constitution of Kenya
First holder	Bernard Penfold
Deputy	Vice Chief of the Defence Forces
Website	Official website

The office is considered very important and highly prestigious, because the CDF has command authority over the Armed Forces. The chain of command is from the President (as the Commander in Chief), directly to the CDF. The CDF, as a Principal Adviser, does have authority over personnel assignments and oversight over resources and personnel allocated to the commands within the respective services. The Chairman may also transmit communications to the service commanders from the President. He also performs all other functions as assigned from time to time by the President. The CDF may also allocate those duties and responsibilities to other officers under his name.