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Kenyas insecurity dilemma; the root cause and the way forward

My fellow Kenyans, keep on reading the entire script below and tell me if I am insane – if I need to book an appointment with a psychiatrist.

English Version

"Let one and all arise With hearts both strong and true Service be our earnest endeavour And our homeland of Kenya Heritage of splendour Firm may we stand to defend."

Swahili Version

“Amkeni ndugu zetu Tufanye sote bidii Nasi tujitoe kwa nguvu Nchi yetu ya Kenya Tunayoipenda Tuwe tayari kuilinda”

Do those lines ring a bell? Do they remind you of anything so far? Well, let me remind you, it is the second stanza of our national anthem. I know you might not even be aware that our national anthem has three stanzas, yes it does. We have developed a bad habit both nationally and internationally of singing the first stanza only, the song can only be called an anthem when all the stanzas are acknowledged otherwise, it is just a song whose tune originated from my community, as a matter of fact, it is such a soothing lullaby. With words well thought and put down by a group of people selected by the founding father of this nation: Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, it became the national anthem. But as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. It takes devotion, love, support and national loyalty for one to defend their country.

Our beloved homeland is bleeding, because we lied, we lied that we shall defend it - Firm may we stand to defend, Tuwe tayari kuilinda - now we are throwing blames left right and centre when we should be blaming you and I. The enemy of our land is us. All that is happening to us lately is the perfect contribution of our own hands. The bombings and killings are being abetted by us: our brothers, our sisters our fathers, our mothers our neighbours, our classmates, our confidants and the list continues. Give me a minute – let me explain myself, the Mpeketoni attacks are not child games, these are attacks that were well thought out, and perfectly executed and so was the Westgate and other many filthy incidents. So here comes my question, who else knows our country better than us? Can all these inhuman and barbaric acts be evoked without a helping hand from a Kenyan?

Wanakenya wenzangu, something is amiss, absolutely crooked. What happened to natukae kwa undugu amani na uhuru? It is clear now that we have failed to create a favourable environment for peaceful coexistence regardless of our fundamental differences in communities, religion, and political ideologies social status e.t.c. We have failed to dance to the tune of our national anthem. We know for sure that some of our young men and women are being recruited to join clandestine movements either for the love of money or because of other motives. We suspect that our sons or daughters, brothers or sisters have joined the insurgents but we can't report this to the authorities because of the money or material goods they bring home, forgetting that we surely reap what we sow. Why and why are we allowing others to use us to destroy our country? We are very fast in singing the undanceable song of sack Kimaiyo, sack Gichangi, Olelenku, the OCPD's…. …. My brothers and sisters, this song is absolutely misplaced. There is no guarantee that if we replace them, the security of the nation shall improve – as a matter of fact, it might worsen because the foundation will remain the same.

Let me announce to you my fellow Kenyans… we have been treating the symptoms of the disease and not the root cause - we lack patriotism (uzalendo) and instead we are full of selfishness (ubinafsi). In a nutshell, many of us are unpatriotic and selfish and this is the root cause of our current insecurity dilemma! What we need to understand here is that patriotism and selflessness can achieve for a country the message of oneness, the message of satisfaction, the message of human perfection and God-manifestation - Raha tupate na ustawi.

This then leads us to the big question, how do we achieve patriotism and eliminate selfishness? Patriotism and selflessness are virtues that are either inborn or acquired but not through coercion as patriotism and selflessness through coercion is poisonous. We need to change the environment to accommodate these virtues; yes, it is possible, heard of operant conditioning? Without going deep into psychology, it is simply the process in which an organism's behaviour is modified through the reliant on the event of a stimulus in its environment. If we set the right environment to breed patriotism and selflessness, we shall automatically adapt to it hence generate pure and moral motives towards our nation - Firm may we stand to defend, Tuwe tayari kuilinda.

Let it be known that once the USA was subjected to what we are going through now – insecurity from within and without. However, after the 9/11, they came up with a workable model, which brought about many recommendations including the Homeland Security. The model can be adopted with adjustments to suit our needs – we do not need to invent the wheel. The model was born through the Congress and the President of the USA who created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Public Law 107-306, November 27, 2002). Ten Commissioners (five Republicans and five Democrats) were chosen by their elected leaders with a unity of purpose because their nation demanded it – it was time of great partisan division.

The mandate of the commission was sweeping. Their law directed them to investigate “facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” including those relating to intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, diplomacy, immigration issues and border control, the flow of assets to terrorist organizations, commercial aviation, the role of congressional oversight and resource allocation, and other areas determined relevant by the Commission. However, it should be noted that the aim of the Commission was not to assign individual blame but to provide the fullest possible account of the events surrounding 9/11 and to identify lessons learned.

Thereafter, the commission presented the narrative of their report and the recommendations to the President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the American people for their consideration.

Therefore my country-mates, if we are to bring to an end the insecurity dilemma in this country, National Forum is inevitable. However, I have a word of caution - the Forum should not be, at any cost, coalition or politically-driven but people-driven. It is possible for various models to be fronted for adoption but the prevailing security situation in the country is delicate and requires a religious/holistic model. I recommend the following model, which can be modified to a palatable environment:

The President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces to call for a round-table meeting with the 2013 presidential contenders where the pace for the issues to be discussed during the Forum shall be set. A commission should be formed and names of commissioners to spearhead the forum to be selected and forwarded to the August House for approval. The commissioners to visit all counties to collect Kenyans’ views on what should be done to avert the current state of insecurity. Members of Parliament and Senators to join their electorates during the process so as to come up with a comprehensive national strategy that can handle the current and future security situation. Thereafter, the narrative of their report and recommendations to be taken to the President of Kenya and the law makers for fine-tuning before it can be adopted. The document fine-tuning should try as much as possible not to deviate from the views of wanakenya as this could be a recipe for low intensity conflict.

The adoption of the document should be holistically followed by countrywide security awareness programs, which should include Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiatives that will create sense of togetherness among Kenyans. The security operatives, especially the police force, should be viewed as a friendly force that information can be shared with them without fear of victimization - Natukae na undugu.

Remember: When a Kenyan becomes a patriot and selfless, then his love for our country will automatically slither into the souls of other Kenyans and find its way back to the country,  it is a cycle - Nchi yetu ya Kenya Tunayoipenda (the love) Tuwe tayari kuilinda.

 

Major (Rtd) Mohamed D. Morowa

Security Consultant

+254722262639

[email protected], [email protected]

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