The Westgate Paradox

A week ago, bloodthirsty gun totting terrorists descended on Kenya’s premier upmarket shopping mall, The Westgate and for four solid days ,made it their battlefield, holding dozens of Kenyans hostage and leaving 67 innocent Kenyans, among them women and children, lying lifeless in their wake.

They belong to hellfire. They are devil’s agents.

However, as the dust finally settles, as those slain in the horrific attack are finally laid to eternal rest,(May their soul rest in peace) and as forensic experts comb the crime scene looking for evidence, the attack has  opened a fray of questions from any quarters , which sadly, no one is answering.

The experts are said to have sealed off the place to the media, a move that has left tongues wagging, and questions flying left right and centre, as speculations heighten over the identity of the terrorists, and as to what really transpired inside the besieged building.

Below is a raft of questions that this writer is grappling with, all of them coming from the members of the public. Here we go.

1.     Was there a  confusion between the police, the General Service Unit Recce Company, and the Armed forces, thus giving the terrorists time to organize themselves?

A local media house stated that at the initial stages minutes after the attack, certified gun holders around the Westgate, together with armed security forces engaged the terrorists In a fierce gun battle, and set the tempo giving the terrorists no time to reorganize their line of attack.

However, this was altered when the police came in, and the security men had to be pulled aside,giving the terrorists a lifeline.

Minutes later, The G.S.U are said to have pulled out the  police thus creating a gap before they started  engaging the terrorists again.

The fete was repeated when Kenya Defence Forces came into the scene.

This is when the terrorists got the much needed breather and launched a lethal attack, their snipers killing six of the KDF soldiers in a blazing gunfire, local newspapers reported.

2.    What happened to the hostages and the terrorists after the government claimed it had taken control of all the floors of the building? Did they shoot them?. If Yes, how come there are no more bodies which have been found since Tuesday?

Before Tuesday there were definitely an unknown number of people in the mall. However, the government through the interior ministry maintained that the forces had taken control of the mall, yet no more was said of the people who were inside at that particular time.

3.    Did the Kenyan forces shoot indiscriminately, killing their own civilians? And possibly covering it up by well coordinated efforts to ward off the media from the scene, terming it a scene of crime?

4.    Why is the government monopolizing information coming from the mall and go ahead to urge everyone to believe only what is coming from the government?

5.    Who were those soldiers who were white/European who rescued people 45 minutes after the attack?

A rescued hostage narrated how people were afraid after seeing te white soldiers, so afraid that some refused to come out of the building fearing for their lives, thinking that those too were terrorists.

6. Why were killed terrorists not paraded at least to the media?

7. The government claimed to have rescued several hostages Tuesday. What happened       to the rescued hostages, where did they go? Who saw them?

8.What is the official death toll? Why are the government, the police  and the Red Cross giving contradicting information with regard to the numbers of those killed and those still missing?

9. Who set the vehicles on fire and why?

10.  Are claims of looting true? Who did it?

11. Why did the building cave in?

12. Were chemical weapons used by the Kenyans forces? Why is it that there is no more bodies recovered after the Kenya Army claimed full control of the building?

13. Was there a female terrorist in there?

14. Why couldn’t they use other means to neutralize the terrorists?

For instance, use a mixture of tear gas, irritating water, or even hire the witchdoctor who allegedly controls bees.

I hear bees could have neutralized them in a minute, prompting them to drop their guns.

Here, the damned terrorists could have been arrested while the hostages could have been taken to hospitals, suffering from only multiple bee stings rather than gun shots. Sometimes it simplicity that carries the day.

15. Were there intelligence reports on the attack weeks before it happened, and who was napping on his job?

16. Where are the terrorists, dead or alive? could they possibly have disappeared disguising themselves as civilians?

For instance, one rescued victim narrated to a local media house how one of the attackers was dressed:

A blue pair of jeans,a black T-shirt and a scarf. Simply saying,  without a gun, there was no  way one could have established that he was one of the attackers.

How could he have escaped? By just removing the scarf, throwing down the heavy riffle and walking to his freedom.

Unconfirmed reports show that at least one of the attackers moved out with the victims and though one of the victims who saw him raised the matter with the security forces, nothing came out of it.

So, why didn’t the government ensure that everyone who came out of the building  were  thoroughly vetted to check on any irregularity?

17. Is the government trying to cover up something? Say a major security lapse?

These questions come from worried Kenyans who are requesting immediate answers, or at least information related to the above.

Even though the matter is under investigation, the more the silence, the more the questions.

Someone tell Kenyans!