- Mohammed Hussein Ali
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Mohammed Hussein Ali
محمد حسين عليYears of service 2004-2009 Rank Major General Commands held Kenya Police - For the Kenyan politician, see Mohamed Hussein Ali
Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali (Somali: Maxamed Xuuseeyn Cali, Arabic: محمد حسين علي) (born in 1956 in Eldoret) is an ethnic Somali military commander. He was the former Commissioner of the Kenya Police, and is currently Chief Executive of the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
Contents
Early life
Ali is a member of the Sheekhaal Somali clan. He was born in 1956 in Eldoret, and went to Uasin Gishu School and then to Kolanya Boys High School in Busia District. He dropped out of high school after the death of his father to take care of his four younger siblings.
Career
Military
In 1977, Ali joined the Kenyan Army. He was eventually promoted to Brigadier in 2003 and to Major General in 2005. During his military career, he served as a military attaché in Zimbabwe and Uganda, and was commanding officer of the Western Brigade of the Kenya Army Paratrooper Battalion, as well as the Air Cavalry regiment in Embakasi. He is also a former chairman of the Ulinzi Stars football club.[1]
Police
Ali was appointed to the position of Commissioner of the Kenya Police in 2004 by incumbent President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, whilst then holding the rank of Brigadier in the Kenya Air Force.[2] Ali was the first Police Commander to assume office from a post outside the police force.[1]
Anti-vice and corruption reform
Ali's first significant act upon his appointment was to disband the then feared Kenya Police Reserve, and to draft new recruitment procedures. He also authorized a mass clear-out of the police's hierarchy in a move to reform the force, which had long had a poor reputation and faced accusations of corruption and criminal involvement. The reform constituted the largest shake up of the police since independence.[3]
Crackdown on the Mungiki sect
Starting 2007, Ali's charges in the Kenyan police began severely cracking down on the notorious Mungiki sect, a local politico-religious group and banned criminal organization known for, among other things, decapitating policemen.[4] For this perceived excessive use of force on its part, the police drew heavy criticism from human rights groups, particularly over the deaths of several hundred youth in its custody without trial over alleged links to the sect.[5][6]
2008 Post-election crisis
In 2008, controversy also surrounded the Kenyan police's response to the violence that rocked the country following a disputed presidential election, especially regarding a 'shoot to kill' order that is alleged to have come out of Ali's office. According to a report investigating the Post election violence, gunshot wounds most likely from police guns were the biggest single cause of death amongst the fatalities.[7] On 15 December 2010, Ali was named in a summons by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, in relation to his putative role in the events that followed the 2007 elections. The ICC prosecution alleges that Ali authorized the use of excessive force and facilitated attacks against supporters of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement during the period's post-election violence.[8]
The Alston Report
In 2009, Major General Ali was in the news again when a report by UN special reporter Philip Alston into extrajudical killings recommended that he was a stumbling block to police reform and should resign.[9] This was despite at least one observer describing him in the Nairobi Chronicle as "without doubt, the most effective police chief Kenya has seen in a long time." While never shying away from making use of all of the available means open to him as head of Kenya's police, during his time as Commissioner, Ali, among other things, re-equipped the police with new patrol trucks and vehicles and trucks, secured modern policing equipment for his charges, revitalized the police over the long-term by increasing the recruitment of officers, and improved the sharing of information between the police and the public.[10]
Postal Corporation
On September 8, 2009, Ali was transferred from his position as Police Commissioner to Chief Executive of the Postal Corporation of Kenya.[11]
References
- ^ a b Daily Nation, September 8, 2009: Ali’s surprise landing at post office
- ^ http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=87&art_id=qw1081178461913B251&set_id=1 Kenya names new police chief to tackle crime
- ^ Clear-out among Kenya's police
- ^ BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenyan sect 'beheads' policeman
- ^ http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=43019 Caption: Dreaded GSU intensifies crack down of Mungiki suspects in...
- ^ http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=43293 Mulungunipa suspects: Massive manhunt launched -
- ^ http://www.eastandard.net/downloads/Waki_Report.pdf
- ^ Kenya’s post election violence: ICC Prosecutor presents cases against six individuals for crimes against humanity
- ^ http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/604322/-/ujpubg/-/ Death Squads: Alston's final report
- ^ Ali: a very effective police boss
- ^ Daily Nation, September 8, 2009: Kibaki moves Ali, names new Kenya police boss
People publicly indicted in the International Criminal Court Central African Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Thomas Lubanga Dyilo · Bosco Ntaganda · Germain Katanga · Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui · Callixte MbarushimanaKenya Libya Darfur, Sudan Uganda Categories:- Living people
- Kenyan military personnel
- Kenyan people of Somali descent
- Ethnic Somali people
- 1956 births
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