Let attack break new ground on a national dialogue on security

The official response to the DusitD2 Hotel terrorist attack has been met with high levels of public satisfaction. This is a departure from how the public perceived responses to almost all the previous high-profile terrorist attacks that have taken place in Kenya in the recent past.

On those previous occasions, there was as much public anger because of the incompetent responses as that created by the attacks themselves. When, for example, the country experienced the Westgate Mall attack in September 2013, the first in the series of attacks, there was evident contestation as to whether the police or the military should lead in the rescue of people trapped in the afflicted mall, a rivalry that was a key factor in the very significant delays and discordant manner that characterised the response.