[4] Its main mission is the defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kenya, recruitment to the KDF is done on yearly basis.

[8] In 2015, credible allegations were made that the KDF is involved with sugar smuggling from southern Somalia into Kenya, to avoid import dues.

The United Kingdom raised and maintained forces in Kenya Colony after it was established, eventually to become the King's African Rifles (KAR).

[15] A new battalion, 1st Kenya Rifles, was created entirely from 340 Lanet soldiers who had been cleared of participation in the mutiny by the Kenyan Criminal Investigations Division (CID).

Hornsby writes that after the mutiny, '[Kenyatta] improved conditions, announced pay rises to the military, speeded Africanisation, and instructed the intelligence services to infiltrate and watch the army for signs of disaffection.

'[16] Discussions began in March 1964 between Kenya and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations Duncan Sandys on defence, and a formal agreement was signed on 3 June 1964.

Timothy Parsons wrote in 2002–03:[18] '..Kenyatta did not have to worry about the political reliability of the Kenyan Army because expatriate senior British military advisors ran it along KAR lines throughout the 1960s.

Following the lessons of the Lanet protects, African officers assumed operational command of all major units, but a British training team still oversaw the Kenyan Army for most of the decade.

More significantly, an informal defence arrangement with Britain reassured Kenyatta that he could rely on direct British military support in the event of an army mutiny or attempted coup.

Hardy leaving the post of Commander Kenya Army and handing over to Brigadier Joseph Ndolo on 1 December 1966, British influence was underlined with the appointment of Major General Bernard Penfold as Chief of the Defence Staff, a new position as senior officer of the entire armed forces.

[19] Ndolo succeeded Penfold as Chief of Defence Staff in 1969, but was retired on 24 June 1971 after being implicated in a coup plot allegedly organised by Joseph Owino.

[25] The South African Institute for Security Studies wrote when Moi was still in power:[26] "the Kenyan armed forces' reputation as a politically neutral establishment has been undermined by irrefutable evidence of tribal favouritism in the appointment of key posts.

Kenya's first peacekeeping deployment was to the United Nations Iran–Iraq Military Observer Group to supervise the ceasefire;[27] then UNTAG in Namibia.

From 1989 to 2001, Kenyan troops took part in UNTAG, UNOSOM, UNPROFOR, UNCRO (Croatia), UNTAES, UNOMIL, UNPREDEP in Macedonia (1996–1999), MONUA in Angola (1997–1999), and UNTAET in East Timor (1999–2001).

[25] In the early 21st century, the Ministry of State for Defence, just like that of Internal Security and Provincial Administration, is part of the presidential machinery.

"[29] Nevertheless, there have been serious allegations of human rights violations, most recently while conducting counter-insurgency operations in the Mt Elgon area[30] and also in the district of Mandera central.

[31] In October 2011, following a weekend preparatory meeting between Kenyan and Somali military officials in the town of Dhobley,[32] Kenya Army units crossed the border to begin Operation Linda Nchi attacking the Al-Shabaab insurgents in southern Somalia.

[33] Kenya had coordinated with the transitional government in Mogadishu, and with the Somali militias in the border areas, but the drive on Kismayu was run by the KDF.