Mohammed Hussein Ali
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- 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Career
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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 15th 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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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]
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