A month after the bloody attack on Garissa University by Al-Shabaab terrorists, questions remain over the lessons learnt from this and other grisly terror attacks on Kenyan soil.
The April 2 incident left 148 people dead, the second highest fatality figures from a single terror attack in this country, the highest being the 1998 Al-Qaeda bombing of the United States embassy that left 218 dead.
So what has happened since that black Thursday?
First, victims: All bodies except one have been collected from Nairobi’s Chiromo Mortuary.
“We are working on DNA samples to try and determine the deceased’s identity,” chief government pathologist Johannes Oduor told The Standard on Sunday.
Away from the confusion and stench that engulfed Chiromo for weeks after the killings, flowers are already spouting on the mounds of dirt marking the final resting places of the butchered.
The occupants are becoming painful memories to the loved ones they left behind. Mothers are starting to come to terms with not attending a daughter’s wedding and fathers are living with the possibility of being without a heir.
And the survivors trudge on, the trauma and fear forever remaining a part of them. Some have vowed never to go back to a town that they had come to know as a second home. For others, life just goes on. Still for others, reconciling their near-death experiences with the present is a daily struggle.
Behind the walls where an untold amount of blood was shed is nothingness. Blood stains remain on the floors and walls, with bullet holes and a silence so deep that it is sometimes as loud as the screams of those who were at the university on that day.
The gates are shut. Indefinitely. The students transferred to the university’s main campus in Eldoret so that, according to Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, “their learning calendar is not interrupted”.
Unlike previous attacks, leaders publicly acknowledged that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes live among us. They are our brothers, sisters and uncles. They are us.
And soon after the attack, the Garissa Township MP, Aden Duale, gave a 30-day ultimatum for those associated with the terror group to surrender themselves to authority or the region’s leaders would out them. Today marks the 31st day since the massacre. As far as the public is concerned, only one person — Solomon Kamau Osman — has come forward.
“This is a continuous process. We have had meetings with the local leadership trying to get them to report individuals suspected of terror activities. We are making progress and liaising with the relevant authorities,” Duale said.
Then there have been even more ultimatums.
Terror groups
In a statement earlier in the month, the Government expressed its desire to counter the insecurity that has rocked the country, noting that many unsuspecting young people had been lured into joining terror groups.
“The Government will consider granting amnesty and appropriate reintegration support.
“However, those who fail to heed this call within the prescribed time frame will be treated as criminals living in our midst and will face the full force of the law,” read the statement.
On April 24, a two-week extension was granted. So, how many defections have we had so far?
“I do not think any of them have come forth. Maybe they are afraid and are not sure that their safety is guaranteed. Maybe they don’t believe our efforts of reintegration,” Administration police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi said at the time.
“We believe that many of them are Kenyans who were lured into extremism. We want them to come home . . . they can still be productive members of the society.”
The wait continues. Meanwhile, businesses suspected to have ties with the terror groups have been shut down, most of them are money transfer services. Some owners have sought legal redress.
Unlike previous instances, some high level security officials under whose jurisdiction the killings took place were suspended. Nine top security commanders of Garissa County were interdicted. Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery also indicated that the county security team would be prosecuted if investigations into their conduct ahead of the attack show there was criminal negligence.
Still we wait. The survivors wait to continue with their quest for education. Garissa town waits to return to its hustling and bustling self. We wait to see if the amnesty on Al-Shabaab terrorists will bear any fruit. We wait, just like the rest of the world, to know whether the list of Al-Shabaab sympathisers will be made public.
We wait for questions to be answered. Some may be simple while others, like those from parents waiting to hear from their missing children long after the university siege, may require a more complex response.
