Images from Westgate fiasco mirror our reality and shame

By CHARLES MULILA

Why are Kenyans feigning shock at the alleged looting at Westgate Mall during the Kenya Defence Forces intervention at the facility?

Specifically, why should this country be surprised that KDF officers were seen inside the mall carrying branded shopping bags containing “water” or whatever other merchandise?

The tell tale images, captured by CCTV cameras are, to say the least, appalling. Let’s face it; this country’s morality has sunk to the abyss despite the loud pretentions of nationalism and camaraderie depicted by our leaders and private citizens during national days.

Sample the following: Soldiers, in a single file, are seen marching out of Westgate, emotionless. One or two have the temerity to engage in a false cover, unaware that the cameras are rolling. That very act as seen on KTN’s Jicho Pevu must have shaken Kenya’s collective conscience to the core.

The above notwithstanding, there are a few home truths that must be contextualised.

KDF soldiers and other security agencies are members of the larger Kenyan society. Most of them have been around long enough to witness some of Kenya’s worst scandals and schemes perpetrated by crooks. And for good measure, they have seen how subsequent governments have handled national scandals.

These range from the infamous Goldenberg scandal, Anglo Leasing, the Triton rip-off, the raid on our strategic grain reserve and the free primary education theft, just to mention but a few.

In the cases enumerated above, taxpayer money amounting to billions was allowed to end up in vaults and wallets of crooks. Not a coin has been recovered.

And if the past is anything to go by, we should not expect that anything will be recovered.

This is notwithstanding that the current economic woes facing this country can be traced to most of these schemes.

The end result is that the heavily taxed ordinary Kenyan is still paying for the close to Sh100 billion lost in these scams.

The only difference between the shopping bags carted away by KDF soldiers and the cash looted through white-collar crime is the CCTV camera.

The architects of the worst economic crimes in Kenya are never captured on camera. Media outlets in Kenya usually mute their stories for fear of lawsuits.

Granted that soldiers are paid to protect property and life of Kenyans and any other people living within our borders. But are economic saboteurs and architects of Goldenrberg and Anglo Leasing paid to steal from us?

There are aspects of the Westgate Mall attack, in my view, that are more important than the “shopping” done by KDF inside the mall.

Initially, we were told that there were 15 heavily armed terrorists at the mall. It is now emerging that there could have been four or five of these characters inside the mall at the time of the KDF intervention. Where are the ten others that government officialdom was shouting about?

It has also been reported that intelligence reports on an imminent attack of the mall were conveyed to some top ranking officers in government. How was this information consumed?

Past regimes in this country have “used” the media to divert public attention from pertinent issues. It’s a tool that is widely used the world over.

Whenever the need arises to divert attention, the ever-prying media is allowed access to a potentially explosive story line to give the authorities time to sort out their mess. Media must be able to see through this.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has promised to set up an inquiry into the Westgate fiasco. And that is as it should be. But the President need not wait for the outcome of this commission to make hard decisions on the composition of his Cabinet and competence of individual top public servants.

Granted that Kenya’s Constitution informs the procedures of sacking civil servants, it also equips the President with authority to make decisions and take actions on matters that threaten the wellbeing of the country. My humble view is that even as the President appoints the Westgate commission, a Cabinet shake-up would be in order.

No definite answers have been forthcoming on the hard questions relating to the attack.

Or should we just accept and move on?

The writer is a journalist and media consultant