Kenya has signed a new 5-year Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the United Kingdom subject to ratification by both nations' parliaments.
The agreement was signed by Kenya's Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma and her UK counterpart Ben Wallace on Tuesday night in a side event during President Uhuru Kenyatta's first day of his UK tour.
This is the culmination of an agreement between the two countries that was reached six months ago when the UK Defence Secretary visited Kenya and agreed on a refreshed Security Compact with CS Monica Juma.
President Uhuru on Tuesday evening/State House
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“Today, Rt Hon Ben Wallace and I reaffirmed our commitment to continue deepening the defence cooperation between our two nations," Kenya's Defence CabinetSecretary Monica Juma said after the signing of the deal.
She went on to hail the agreement as an invaluable tool for enhancing the competencies of both countries' defence forces.
Under the terms of the previous DCA, the UK has trained 1100 Kenyan soldiers annually in the past 5 years.
The Kenya Navy and Air Force have also benefitted from the partnership as they received expert training and participated in the exchange of expertise with their UK counterparts.
The DCA also sees six British infantry battalions carry out four-week training courses in Kenya every year.
This agreement has benefitted the local communities from which the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) sources its civilian workforce pumping Ksh 5.8 billion into the economy in the past 5 years.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo and Keriako Tobiko after the signing of agreements that will see Kenya join the Adaptation Action Coalition (AAC) and the UN Climate Action Summit (UN CAS) earlier on Tuesday/ State House
President Uhuru Kenyatta is on his second day of the United Kingdom tour which ends on Thursday.
On Wednesday and Thursday, he will co-chair the Global Education Summit alongside UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
