Nkaiserry Snip

Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of Government, Joseph Nkaissery. He shares a name with Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinet.

What is in a name, asked William Shakespeare once. A rose in another name may smell as sweet he posed. But what is in a name when all key people picked for a particular job share a name? Could there be something more to that name?

That is what we might need to ask about Kenya’s security docket which only seems to attract people named ‘Joseph’.

The current Cabinet Secretary is called Joseph Nkaissery. The former Member of Parliament for Kajiado Central took over from another ‘Joseph’ – Joseph ole Lenku – a hotelier.

The current Inspector General of Police is also a Joseph – Joseph Boinett – a career police man. And as if that is not enough with the Joseph’s involved in security issues we have another one, Lt-Gen Joseph Kasaon the army man, was just recently been appointed to be Vice Chief of Defence Forces.

There is a possibility that Kasaon will be Kenya’s next Chief of Defence Forces once Gen. Samson Mwathethe retires. If that happens, Kasaon will be the second ‘Joseph’ to lead the Defence Forces after Joseph Kibwana who led during the regimes of Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki.

But who is Joseph in the Bible?

In the old testament, the book of Genesis tells of Joseph the interpreter of dreams who was sold to slavery by his brothers out of the envy they had of him. This Joseph was one of the sons of Israel and was beloved of his father and God. He became famous after interpreting the dream of Pharaoh of the seven years of rich harvest and seven years of drought.

And there is Joseph the son of David and the father of Jesus Christ. He was a Carpenter and he played the role of the foster father of Jesus. Not much is said about him as the scriptures do of Mary the mother of Jesus. Then we have Joseph of Arimathea, the man who asked to bury the body of Jesus Christ.

Well those are the Josephs who are handling our security and their predecessors and the role they played.
Meanwhile note that there was also a Francis factor in the office of the Secretary to Cabinet since after Francis Muthaura retired the office was assumed by one Francis Kimemia who has since been relieved of his duties by President Uhuru Kenyatta.