Fix security crisis or step down, President Uhuru Kenyatta told

Top civil society leaders have told President Uhuru Kenyatta to urgently fix the "security meltdown" facing the country or vacate State House.

This comes as the Orange Democratic Movement suggested yesterday that if the Jubilee government fails to address insecurity, they should give up the reins of power and call a fresh general election.

Speaking in Nairobi, the civil society leaders, who included former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo, human rights activist Gladwell Otieno and Constitutional Expert Yash Pal Ghai, said the recent security disasters in Mandera, Mpeketoni, Kapedo and Westgate are forcing many Kenyans to acknowledge that there is a "slow-motion security meltdown".

Others included International Centre for Policy and Conflict Chief Executive Officer Ndung'u Wainaina, International Commission of Jurists (Kenya) Vice Chairman Njonjo Mue and Davida Lamba.

"In matters of security the buck stops emphatically with the President for he is the leader of the government, which is required by the Constitution to protect all Kenyans," said Otieno.

Githongo said events over the last one-and-a-half years in Tana River, Garissa, Nairobi, Isiolo, Baringo, Samburu, Turkana, Lamu, Mombasa and Bungoma bear the grim testament that the Government has failed to prosecute its core mandate of protecting Kenyans.

"The incompetence in response to insecurity by top State officials including the President and Deputy President to this deteriorating situation feeds a climate of increasing fear and despondency," he said.

pleasure trip

He added: "Kenyans were particularly upset last week when it became clear that the Head of State remained on an overseas business and pleasure trip while Kenyans were being massacred in Mandera."

But Senior Director of Public Communications at the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit Munyori Buku said Githongo and his group have engaged in partisan pursuits and therefore have no standing to condemn the Jubilee government.

"Githongo and his ilk have ceased to be Kenyan civil society and have become Kenya's evil society. They have no moral ground to shout at the Government," Buku said.

Wainaina said the President should either resign and call for fresh elections or reconstitute the entire Cabinet to bring in fresh blood that Kenyans have confidence in.

Prof Ghai said calls to impeach the President over insecurity challenges can only be done in Parliament, terming the possibility dim since the ruling Jubilee coalition enjoys a majority in both the National Assembly and the Senate.

Njonjo criticised State officials for characterising the recent street protests against insecurity in the country as the work of "foreign-funded evil society". He said that amounts to seeking to divert attention.