CORD says state has failed on security

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has accused the government of failing Kenyans on security and the war on terror.

Cord says the government appears clueless on how to combat insecurity while dismissing the ongoing security swoop as a kin to ethnic profiling of Somali community.

The opposition leader led by former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who addressed a press conference at Serena Hotel, Nairobi either refuted accusations that they had failed to offer alternative leadership thus contributing to the leadership crisis in the country.

“The mandate to rule this country is either wrongly or rightly in the hands and they can not blame us for their non-performance. We will not only put them on their toes but on the run,” Kalonzo said.

The leaders scoffed off at suggestions that a weak opposition was failing to put the government on its toes saying Cord doesn’t need to shout for Jubilee to perform.

“Its extremely idle that Jubilee is telling Kenyans that they are not performing well because Cord is not shouting at them. It’s a laughable matter. You do not have to shout about corruption in laptop tender, Railway deal, Anglo-leasing and others,” Senate minority leader Moses Wetang’ula said.

The former VP Kalonzo said that it was unfortunate that the government lacked a strategy to deal with terror and appears disinterested in establishing the truth on terrorism.

He cited the September 21, 2013 Westgate terror attack that President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to appoint commission of inquiry to probe.

“I was at KICC when the President told the country that he will form a commission of inquiry yet he ahs not done it. What are they hiding? We know that the Recce squad of GSU had contained the criminals but how KDF came to bomb the place is still a mystery,” Kalonzo said.

The over 30 MPs said in a statement that ethnic profiling of members of the Somali community is itself an illegality and runs against well established doctrines of human rights conventions that Kenya is party to.

Wetang’ula lashed at the ongoing security swoops targeting Eastleigh and other areas as akin to ethnic profiling, saying that the war on terror is not won by such operations.

He said Kenya should copy the example of Ethiopia with a population of 9 million ethnic Somalis and which was in Somali long before Kenya yet it does not experience sporadic attacks like what happens here.

“You do not fight crime by exhibiting archaic brutal force and especially on sophisticated crimes such as terrorism. You do not cordon off an area and tell the world you are fighting terror. This was can only be done by heavy investments in intelligence gathering and addressing corruption in the sector,” Wetang’ula said.

Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba said under the jubilee leadership, the security situation has oscillated from bad to worse and demanded a well thought out security mechanism that will secure on homeland and international borders.

“Whereas CORD abhors terrorism in all it manifestations, we take exception with the brutal and inhumane manner in which the government is undertaking the security operation,” Ababu said.