Character Development Challenges and Opportunities Influencing Anglo-Kenyan Diplomatic Relations

Military professionalism has three characteristic: expertise, social responsibility and corporateness. Education is a universal characteristic of all professions, including the military profession. Indeed, if a long-term military career is foreseen, one that will culminate in high rank, officers are advised to pursue a robust professional program. Military officers should have the intellectual expertise required to employ a nation's armed forces all its military resources in support of and within the larger totality of a nation's security. They have to understand and deal with military relations and other aspects like military, economic, technological and other societal changes in an intellectual manner. While the independence period has witnessed cordial diplomatic, trade and economic relations between the two countries, the ideal military professionalism is a key factor in interstate diplomatic relations. Anglo-Kenyan diplomatic relations has been beset with challenges embedded in military professionalism on both sides. These include challenges in character development in terms of military relations. Specifically the study sought to: examine character development challenges and opportunities influencing Anglo-Kenyan diplomatic relations. The study was based on a theoritical frame work that encompassed realist theory. The study used descriptive survey research design. Asample size of 384 was used and was determined by the formula recommended by Mugenda and Mugenda and Nassiuma. The study used simple random sampling method and purposive sampling to distribute 196 KDF and BATUK soldiers across Archer's Post training area, survey research design was used for the 188 key stakeholders, key informants and knowledgeable locals (indigenous) bordering the training area. The instruments used for collecting data from the field were questionnaires and In-depth interview guide. Frequency distribution and descriptive statistics were used to determine a general profile of the informants through summing and categorizing variables such as gender, age, qualifications, years of experience and other items. Cross-tabulation was used to help understand the relations between the two variables. Data were analyzed with the aid of statistical package for social sciences software (SPSS) version 22. The findings are presented in percentages, bar-graphs and pie-chart. The finding indicated that the specialized trainings are undertaken by young soldiers below 35 years of age for “group bonding”. One challenge is soldiers are trained to kill by desensitisation and behavioural conditioning. Some of the opportunities created are; foreign exchange in favour of Kenya but the trade balance between Kenya and Britain is in favour of Britain. Challenges were: terrorism, religious tensions and environmental degradation.