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 Kenya Army Parachute Battalion, as well as
50 Air Cavalry Battalion in
Embakasi. He is also a former chairman of the
Ulinzi Stars football club.
Police Ali was appointed to the position of commissioner of the Kenya Police in 2004 by the former president of Kenya,
Mwai Kibaki, while then holding the rank of brigadier in the
Kenya Army.
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 organisation known for, among other things, decapitating policemen. 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.
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 was 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 among the fatalities. On 15 December 2010, Ali was named in a summons by the prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, in relation to his putative role in the events that followed the 2007 elections. The ICC prosecution alleged that Ali authorised the use of excessive force and facilitated attacks against supporters of the opposition
Orange Democratic Movement during the period's post-election violence. On 23 January 2012 the ICC pre-trial Chamber II led by Judge
Ekaterina Trendafilova ruled that there was not enough evidence against Mr Ali to sustain the charges. Alston reported that there was abundant evidence linking Ali to a central role in devising and overseeing the policy of extrajudicially executing large numbers of suspected criminals. According to the report, Ali refused to acknowledge that any unlawful killings were taking place, and prevented all transparency. 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, secured modern policing equipment for his charges, revitalised the police over the long term by increasing the recruitment of officers, and improved the sharing of information between the police and the public.
Postal Corporation On 8 September 2009, Ali was transferred from his position as police commissioner to chief executive of the
Postal Corporation of Kenya. ==References==