Tana killings a serious indictment of security agencies

The dawn massacre of over 20 people in Tana River and the retaliatory attack that upped the unfortunate tally to 45 have left the country baffled as to how the security forces in the country work.

First, it was clear even to the villagers that an attack was impeding. It was, therefore, almost a foregone conclusion that the intelligence and the police would avert more bloodshed. Why did they not stop further bloodletting, or were they tacitly complicit in the attacks?

The trouble with this careless handling of national security, as it were, is that it may push the various communities at the Coast and elsewhere to the assumption that the State is unable to defend its citizens, with catastrophic effects to our efforts at forging a united, organized Kenyan society from a diversity of previously disparate ethnic nations.

That the Tana massacre came just four months after another attack that claimed over 116 people, including nine police officers, is scary.

One would have expected that the whole region would be under the national security microscope considering that we are slightly over two months away from the next General Election.

In fact, vast sections of Tana River area have been under curfew, which gave the impression that the security of the area was under control. At what point did the police drop their guard?

The other eerie fact is that the latest attacks took place just a short distance from a GSU patrol base and shortly after a reconciliation meeting at Kipao.

As Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) and other stakeholders have pointed out, there may be a clear political hand behind the clashes which needs to be investigated and those behind the massacre be made to face the law.

This is the only way we can stem the wave of impunity that seems to be at work here; where multiple attacks can be staged within months of each other, perhaps because the perpetrators are buoyed by the fact that no one has ever been brought to justice in a country whose election cycles are coextensive with senseless waves of violence.

As the country ushers in a new system where the police will be under an independent Inspector General, one expected that we would be more secure because the police service has constitutionally been given the autonomy to ward off political manipulation.

Simply put, the attacks are a serious indictment of the ability of the Internal Security ministry to handle national security at a crucial period in Kenya’s history.

We hope the Inspector General, once in office, will reverse this worrying trend and ensure we have a peaceful country as we head to the polls.