General Ham has only been the Commander of Africom since March/2011. For Panetta to say in the DOD report that Ham is being replaced, in part, because he’s 64 years old sounds pretty weak. Why put someone in that position who is 62-63 if 64 is too old?
Unfortunately the answer to that is something very ordinary and all too common. You put him there as a favor and a reward for service so he can put one more command under his belt and retire with a higher pension. It's the one-hand-washes-the-other politics of the top brass.
Ham was a temporary replacement for General Kip Ward. It was an interim position from the beginning. (My husband is in the army and has been well aware of this for months.) This is a non-issue.