Beaming on our T.V
screens was a bubbly Mr. President, dignified as ever, telling Kenyans that the
country was safe. How safe? A story for another day. But the Madaraka day
celebrations did not falter in bringing us the entertainment. I remember
wondering how many gallons of jet fuel the swift jets gracing the airspace of
Nyayo stadium consumed on that single day, or the extent of damage their carbon
fumes dealt our environment.
What's more, armored vehicles including a new Land
cruiser with high bullet proof clear glass chauffeured our president into the
stadium, in style? As per the norm, the disciplined forces showcased their
military might by doing the usual "marching around" in the stadium. This time
round, they went a step ahead and crowned their moves with a scintillating
dance that left many cracking their ribs. On the sidelines, a menacing armored
vehicle was literally pulling the crowds. Most people were stunned to see that the
President has fortified his security detail, while their own security situation
remained uncertain. This very vehicle, with all its amazing extras like “bullet
proof, bomb proof,” was what drew vitriol on the part of my friend, who thought
that the president was declaring, albeit in an ironical way, that he is cognizant
of the security breach in the country and therefore the need to protect himself
before protecting his people, who voted him in to exactly do the
opposite-PROTECT THEM FIRST.
What with a string
of grenade attacks that have claimed the lives of so many Kenyans as the
government simply remained inactive? What with the disastrous West Gate attack,
the most magnanimous heinous attack on unarmed civilians on Kenyan soil? What about the
government’s ineffectiveness and unsatisfactory management of the (aftermath of the) massacre, which
happened at the heart of Nairobi, just a stone throw away from the President’s
stool of power? What about the blame game that followed the killings? The
security lapse was there for all to see. I could not help imagining what would
happen if the said Al Shabaab Militiamen, in one of their brazen attacks, besieged
a farflung hamlet away from the city. A total disaster-my friend would later blurt
out, just about when my meandering stream of thought was about to leave that
topic and think of “other” more important matters. But it wouldn’t, my security
was everything I wanted.
It was my peace of mind. I shuddered, the realization
that we as Kenyans were among the most unsafe people in the world, perhaps even
more insecure that our neighbors Somali, was spine tingling, no, -blood cuddling.
Then it happened.
They struck the most unlikely of places-Mpeketoni in Lamu. “Very far, three
days away from Nairobi by bus,” my friend would later tell me. They did their
heinous and barbaric act, West Gate style. And they had all the time in this
world to kill and maim with sheer abandon, at least the government was napping,
they knew THAT! and ten slipped back into the thick cover of the nearby Boni forest. Leisurely, they could point their killer automatic riffles to a target, mostly men, and kill everything at their wake. They also destroyed property worth millions, had time to burn houses and shops and banks and hotels, and even kill some more on their way out. Their audacity was unheard of. Fresh fears emerged as residents claimed that they repeated their killing spree Monday night at a place called Poromoko, only that this new attack could not match their earlier attack, in terms of casualties.
The attack only exposes the soft belly of our government, and simply brings the sad point home-Our intelligence, and police force were caught flatfooted, once again. A cool 8 months after the bloody WestGate massacre. This raises more questions than answers.
Now to the hard
questions. Why Is the government napping on its job? Who is napping? Why didn’t
IG Kimaiyo act immediately after being notified of the attack, just a couple of
minutes later? Did some police officers know about the impending attack? What
is the government doing to avert future attacks?
What is Ole Lenku
still doing in the government? We are tired of his sdick antics especially on
matters of life and death? He blubbered after West Gate, we spared him. Now it
has happened again! The man is NOT up to the task! Why is the government doing
the work of Red Cross? –Collecting dead bodies and promising to foot funeral
expenses of the deceased? Till when will we live with this? We are tired of
this inefficiency on the part of the government!(or, at least those people I
talked to were dead tired of this government’s seemingly inability to contain a
rag tag Somali militia-what will all that equipment, guns and tanks that we
boast of, when will they be put into
some active use? What about the police choppers which could have extinguished
the threat from above?
The questions keep
ringing in my mind, in our minds…..its time something was done to restore
normalcy and peace. A bird whispered to me that Mpeketoni residents have vowed
to take up arms and guard themselves. What if everybody else did the same in
the next few months? This is not incitement but the truth. Syria was once a peaceful
nation, so were Iraq, Ukraine, Tunisia, and Somalia. If we get nothing but
sheer talk and no action at all, PUSH will come to shove. Afterwards, our neighbors will not help but point to a bloody battlefield. I bet their words
will be,” There once was a country: A story of Kenya.”
