Raila condemns Mandera bus attack, calls for overhaul of the security system

Kenya: Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has condemned the killing of 28 people in Mandera after Shabaab militants attacked a Nairobi bound bus.

Raila has demanded an overhaul of the country's security systems following rising incidents of insecurity that have continued to claim the lives of innocent Kenyans.

ODM leader, who was addressing a press conference at Sentrim Lodge in Elementaita, Nakuru County where his party's National Executive Committee (NEC) has been meeting for the past two days, said President Uhuru Kenyatta must reshuffle the country's police chiefs and address the root cause of rising insecurity.

"We want the government to carry out a proper reshuffle of the security agencies and put in place Kenyans with credibility to handle matters of the security," Raila said.

He described the attack on the passengers in Mandera Saturday morning as barbaric, archaic and unacceptable but also a clear affront of national rule of respect for human rights.

"It cannot be over-emphasised that the primary responsibility of any legitimate government is the safety and security of its citizens. I call upon the security agencies to take the recent rise of insecurity of the country seriously," he said.

"We do not just like to see Kenya Defence Forces pursuing operation in Kapedo against its citizens, our armed forces ought to be more concerned in securing our porous border from such devastating attacks and leave the work of internal security to the homeland security," Raila said.

He said an attack on any Kenyan should be considered as an attack on the nation adding that a single life lost whether in Mandera, Wajir, Marsabit or any other part of the country, is one too many.

"The matter of national security has reached a disparate level. Kenyans fear for their lives generally, Kenyans fear walking on the streets," he said.