Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has explained that height and weight are important considerations during Kenya Defence Forces Recruitment.
Speaking on Thursday April 20 during an interview with Citizen TV, Duale stated that military training recruits who are underweight are likely to be hurt themselves or in extreme circumstances, die during the process.
“Some people do not understand it when they are told they cannot join because of the failure to attain a certain weight.
“There is a certain weight range that if you are below it, you cannot be allowed to join the armed forces. This is because, during training, you carry heavy weights of about 20 or 25 kilograms. If you are underweight, you may die during the training,” he stated.
Regarding height, CS Duale stated that KDF has been abit lenient in recent days but there is a minimum height which cannot be allowed due to parade and carrying weapons among other things.
“Joining the military is different from joining other government departments because it has specific requirements; the height is not mainly focused on and we have been a bit lenient on that…we have put it under certain reforms. There are still short people in the military but there is a certain height we cannot allow. The armed forces have a parade, weapons to carry and other things,” he added.
The current minimum height requirement for men is 1.60m while that of women is 1.52m.
For weight the laid out weight limit is 54.5kg for men and 50kg for women.
The Defence CS further stated that KDF recruitment henceforth shall be equal and balanced throughout all counties.
He also stated that corrupt leaders and activities in the ministry will not be tolerated.
