Kenya should not be terrorists playground

As if to prove their disdain for our sovereignty, Al Shabaab militants from Somalia struck at Yumbis in Garissa County towards the end of May.

While their military spokesperson claimed the attack had resulted in the deaths of 25 Kenyan policemen and destroyed five police vehicles, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaiserry and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett denied the death claims, but confirmed five police vehicles had indeed been destroyed in a well laid out ambush.

Initial conflicting reports from the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit, the Cabinet Secretary for Security, the Inspector General of Police and the Garissa regional police command left Kenyans bewildered. Clearly, the breakdown in communication and co-relating information could not be missed.

In the Yumbis attack, one police officer was later confirmed to have lost his life in the ambush. His father later revealed that his son had felt vulnerable working in the area and had made up his mind to resign from the Force.

It is too soon to have forgotten the Suguta valley ambush in which 42 police officers were killed in 2012. That rag tag militia can completely make fools of trained troops is as shocking as it is fascinating indeed.

The latest incident, while underscoring serious security lapses, came a few days after Garissa Town MP, Aden Duale, who is leader of the Majority in Parliament, had bragged that leaders did not owe anybody an explanation for failing to provide a list of Al Shabaab financiers he had publicly promised to disclose following the April attack on Garissa University College.

Nothing explains the lack of seriousness in matters of security than the fact that only a few days before the Yumbis attack, Al Shabaab militants were reported to have forcefully taken over a mosque at Ijara for two hours and even had the audacity to hoist their flag. Days apart, Ethiopian soldiers are said to have driven 16 kilometres inside Kenya and occupied a police station. As a follow up, Ethiopian soldiers engaged the Oromo Liberation Front fighters in Moyale recently, causing a stampede at the Moyale District Hospital.

The effortlessness with which the Al Shabaab militia cross into Kenya to perpetrate their atrocities raises questions about the ability of our security agencies to eliminate the terrorist menace. It is also a matter of grave concern that the role of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in Somalia has been put to question by none other than the United Nations Monitoring Group for Somalia. The Group released a damning report portraying KDF as a major partaker of an illegal charcoal trade at the port of Kismayu in Somalia that rakes in Sh22 billion annually, a third of which goes to Al Shabaab.

This is the second time the UN has claimed that KDF has abdicated its responsibility to Kenyans. It is no wonder that some are asking whether their continued stay in Somalia is tenable. By their recent brazen incursions into Garissa, the Al Shabaab terrorists seem to expect no resistance from Kenya’s security forces. This is unacceptable.

It is instructive to note that police in Mandera are said to be on a silent strike, demanding armoured vehicles, bullet proof vests and high-powered rifles to meet the challenge mounted by the Al Shabaab. On this, the public must be on the side of the police. With the old guns they tote, compounded by lack of adequate motor vehicles, there is little officers on the ground can accomplish.

The police department is expected to gain in a big way in the coming budget. This should aid the service in purchasing state-of-the-art equipment, compensate officers well and solve perennial logistical problems; issues that have hampered the Force in the fight against insecurity.