Use of armoured fleet proves West’s fears on insecurity

Machakos, Kenya: Recently, a respected Kenyan political scientist was quoted as saying that the thorn in Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency is not the opposition but rather, his advisors.

His contention was that it is the Jubilee advisors that are giving misleading advice to the Jubilee administration.  He was proven right by the Madaraka Day fleet used by the President.  Whatever the President’s handlers wanted to prove must have backfired.

On a day when we are supposed to be literally celebrating freedom, the  head of State turns up in a ‘mobile bomb shelter’. His fleet is now composed of several bomb detectors with one preceding the convoy plus a solid steel bomb-proof armoured vehicle.  The commander-in-chief’s ceremonial vehicle is also a new bullet and bomb-proof contraption.

The impression we got from a President ‘enclosed’ behind layers of bullet-proof glass was that there is a bigger picture than the envisioned security problem in the country.

It serves to prove that the West was right when they issued travel advisories and hastily pulled out their citizens. I watched an international TV station’s coverage of the festivities and they really emphasised this point, saying it looked like a President of a country in war.  The President himself has now unwittingly confirmed to the world that there is insecurity in Kenya and he doesn’t feel secure.

It is worse that the President was heavily guarded in a venue that was under tight security, where even infants were searched and drinking water was disallowed.

Explosive detectors had swept the entire stadium and plainclothes security officers were all over. If the President cannot feel secure in such a secured venue, how about the ordinary mwananchi?