ODM condemns ongoing security operation, demands probe into Westgate attack

By Geoffrey Mosoku and Faith Ronoh

Nairobi, Kenya: The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has condemned the ongoing security operation in the country, saying the Inspector General of Police, NIS director and CID director owe the country a better job.

The party likens the holding base at Kasarani stadium to a concentration camp reminiscent of Mau Mau and Wagalla massacres.

“We wish to express strong displeasure at the swoops going on today which resemble Operation Anvil of the Mau Mau era or the Wagalla operation of the 1980s. Operation Anvil can easily lead to ethnic profiling. We do not think indiscriminate picking of Somalis is the answer. Al Shabaab is no longer a Somali issue,” said acting party leader Anyang' Nyong’o.

Former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim sensationally claimed that the radicalisation of youths and terror attacks were a ploy by the state to woo the western countries whose relationship with Nairobi have been thaw over time.

“The only way they can walk back to the international community is to say there is terrorism and we need your support to find a solution; this way they will work together,” Maalim said.

ODM also linked the attacks to the ongoing cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto at ICC, saying the state’s failure to apprehend culprits and arraign them in court was questionable.

ODM also demands the immediate appointment of a tribunal to investigate last year’s Westgate Mall terrorist attack, saying Kenyans must get to the bottom of the biggest security lapse in the country in 20 years that claimed more than 67 lives.

“We are demanding that investigations, preferably by a select committee of both Houses of Parliament be carried out without further delay,” ODM acting party leader Anyang Nyong’o said.

He added; “Why is it that nobody has been sacked after Westgate attack? Police officers had contained the terrorists to a corner only for the military to come in and blow up the building to create an impression that the situation was getting out of hand.”

When asked if ODM shared Maalim’s sentiments, Nyong’o replied; “Why ask the obvious. For now I don’t want to elaborate but next week we will address that matter extensively.”

The opposition party accused President Uhuru of hiding the truth about what transpired in the mall.

Nyongo said all Kenyans remember that President Uhuru promised an inquiry yet seven months later, he has not appointed the commission.

“We welcomed this because understanding how Westgate happened is critical to unraveling how terror groups operate and the loopholes in our security, intelligence and social systems that they exploit and which need to be sealed,” Nyong’o added.

Addressing a press conference at Orange house, ODM chiefs challenged Uhuru to tell Kenyans what he knows about the attack that he is afraid to form the tribunal.

“Close to a year later, there is no inquiry and there are no signs this shall ever be one. The expectation seems to be that Kenyans will just accept and move on. We are asking, what does President Uhuru know about Westgate? Why does the president fear investigating this incident?” he added.

Wajir East MP Mohamed Elmi, former MP Reuben Ndolo, former Nairobi mayor George Aladwa and ODM executive director Magerer Langat flanked Nyong’o and Maalim during the press briefing.

ODM said that given the Somalia aspect to Kenya’s security problems, the state should give the timetable of withdrawing Kenyan troops from Somalia.

“We are not saying we should declare victory and leave. We are not saying we sneak out. We want to see a plan for a systematic handing over of Somalia to its citizens. We reject this chest thumping by the Government about how we are in Somalia to stay. Kenya and AMISOM must have a partnership for reconstruction of Somali state.”