It’s illogical for Al Shabaab to punish innocent civilians

Point Blank

By Njoroge Kinuthia

It’s illogical for Al Shabaab to punish innocent civilians 

The Al Shabaab have released a heart-breaking video of one of the two Kenyans kidnapped by the militia in Wajir in January pleading with President Kibaki to end the war in Somalia.

In the video, posted on the Internet,  a brave Yesse Mule Edward, a District Officer, is seen pleading with the Government to withdraw the army so that he can be freed. “My release depends on the actions of Kenyan people and Government,” says Mule who breaks into tears at least once.

innocent civilians

The problem with Al Shabaab is that its buys its ideologies and modus operadi hook, line, and sinker from Al Qaeda. Posting kidnapped victims’ video messages on the Internet is one of them. Al Qaeda has used this style in Iraq and Afghanistan with little success.

It is unlikely this video, which we doubt Mr Mule recorded of his own volition, will move the Government an inch. There is no way punishing innocent civilians will aid the militia’s war effort. It can only harden the Government’s stance. It’s time Al Shabaab  stopped attacking innocent civilians.

KP yet to fulfil pledge on wayleave

Mr Peter Maosa has reached the end of the tether and is petitioning for the intervention of  Kenya Power’s management to help him get justice. He claims KP engineers approached him in 2008 and requested for power line wayleave with “a lot of respect” promising that he would be compensated as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, he was advised to trasfer the land (Kebirichi scheme plot No. 157) to his name, as it was in the name of his bereaved mother, Ms Abel Nyang’au Mauwa.

Although the land is now in his name, Maosa claims the power company has been reluctant to compensate him. He suspects KP may have been irked by his decision to enlist a Ministry of Lands valuer to determine the compensation.

“When I took the valuation report to the KPLC engineers, they threw me like a ball from one office to another... and the legal department told me never to dare to go there again told me seek an advocate and ‘register my way forward’.” Well, Maosa says, he has no money to lodge a legal battle against the power firm but still insists he wants justice. He can be contacted on 0727575644.

Thirsty Welhar cries out for help

Mr Hussein Siel is a borehole operator in Dadaab District who is currently out of work because of a broken pump, and he is annoyed at the authorities’ lack of concern.

“After years of lobbying, an NGO – Care International – listened to the cries of the residents of Welhar location and sunk a borehole. This has served them well until about two months ago when the generator broke down,” Hassan says. The living conditions have now become unbearable, particularly for pupils at Welhar Primary School. And although an NGO has been supplying water, the taps have dried up for the past one week. “Usually, attendance at the school stands at about 70 children. But since the water crisis, there are barely two dozen pupils. Last week, the school got a volunteer teacher but we are afraid she might leave because life can become unbearable without water,” he says.

relief food

Hassan would like the chief and his assistant, “who live comfortably in town”, to visit and tell them how the Government intends to assist. He also says that pupils are in dire need of the relief food set aside for Asal areas under the Free Primary Education programme. 

Nakuru park’s
nature advocate

Eric Kivuva, a student at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, is all praise for the warden in charge of Education at Lake Nakuru National Park one Lillian Ajuoga for her exceptional assistance during a field work assignment.

“If all wardens were as informative and compentent as Lillian, the younger generation would begin to understand why we need to treasure the environment more.” During the same assignment, he had a stop-over in Naivasha and had mouth-watering meal, which made him conclude that stories about the town were malicious imagination by ‘watu wa magazeti’.

DON’T YOU FORGET

When will this road in Ruai be done Mr Roba Duba?

Several correspondents have written to PointBlank lamenting about the deplorable state of Sewage Road in Ruai, Nairobi. On April 30, for instance, a bitter resident Mr Dick Makembu revealed that the road which has now been replaced by ‘vallies and mountains’ had tarmack in 1990s but was ruined by a contractor during the expansion of City Council’s sewerage plant. He claimed that in 2003, residents were told Latf had allocated Sh84m to pave the road but this never happened. “I’m not sure how many times funds were allocated and squandered, but I’m certain it’s been more than two election cycles,” he claimed. And he added: “The road typifies City Council’s ineptitude as it cannot maintain proper infrastructure even to its own key destinations”.  What do you have to say about this Town Clerk Roba Duba, and when will this crucial road be done?