It is now evident that the march to Kismayu is unstoppable. Yesterday, the Kenya Defence Forces declared that the fall of Kismayu was imminent.
There is good reason to believe this because the African Union (Amisom) troops captured Jana Abdalla, a town which is 40km from Kismayu and killed more than 50 Al Shabaab fighters in four days of fighting. This is the latest town to be captured by Amisom forces on their way to Kismayu, Al Shabaab’s final stronghold.
As the Amisom forces continue to advance, Al Shabaab fighters are reported to be leaving Kismayu in droves. The militia has, however, dismissed reports that they are running out of Kismayu as “blatant lies”.
“The Islamic administration in Kismayu is going about its business as usual and the city remains calm and firmly under the control of Al Shabaab,” the militia said in an online posting.
Well, running away or firmly holding on is Al Shabaab’s choice to make, but my crystal ball tells me that Kismayu’s fall is indeed imminent.
Car owners discard ‘ugly’ plates
There is an illegal practice among some motorists that needs to be checked quickly. The practice, says Mr Tom Arody, is spreading fast among youthful car owners and began with a few politicians.
This breed of drivers don’t like the look of the local number plates. Some of the motorists place the number plates on the dash boards and drive with the foreign number plates the cars were imported with.
“Usually, the drivers lie to the police that they are on the way to have the plates fixed,” Mr Arody reveals.Another group has the number plates (usually the front ones) completely removed from the vehicle as they drive in the city.
Vehicles without number plates, notes Arody, are a security risk and can be used to commit crimes and even disappear without trace after hit-and-run accidents.
Arody wants police and KRA to crack the whip and make the errant motorists to respect the law which requires all vehicles to have number plates.
“If the drivers think that their cars are too beautiful to have number plates, they need to consider trading them for wheelbarrows,” he advises.
