Year of industrial strikes:
First, it was the school teachers and university lecturers who went on strike, followed by doctors, nurses, and then matatu operators. The strikes disrupted services in key sectors.
KDF captures Kismayu:
The highlight of 2012 for the Kenya Defence Forces is undoubtedly the capture of Kismayu on September 28.
The port town in southern Somalia was the stated objective of Operation Linda Nchi, the incursion to remove Al-Shabaab from power started in October 2011.
That KDF did it with about 35 of the troops killed (two are still Missing in Action) was commendable given that they were once described as a career army.
Kismayu’s capture was also interesting in its execution: After days deceiving Al-Shabaab the invasion would be on the land, the strategic port town was taken via a beach landing.
The following Morning, Major Emmanuel Chirchir announced on Twitter, “Operation Sledge Hammer executed as planned.”
Baragoi killings
On November 10, information that police officers had been killed by cattle rustlers in a remote outpost of Samburu called Baragoi began to filter into newsrooms.
At the end of the day, authorities in Rift Valley could only confirm four deaths but that figure rose to more than 40.
Baragoi became a household name as Kenyans wondered what could have gone wrong with the operation.
Saitoti chopper crash
On June 11, the country was plunged into mourning after Internal Security minister George Saitoti and his deputy Joshua Orwa Ojodeh were killed in a helicopter crash in Ngong Forest.
The crash also left two pilots aboard the copter — Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi and bodyguards, Thomas Murimi and Joshua Tongei dead.
Tana massacre
Kenyans generally believe August is a jinxed month.
Towards the end of last August, simmering tensions between two communities in the Tana Delta erupted into attacks on villages.
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