CORD call on security deal is unpatriotic

CORD’s threat to Safaricom over security deal is senseless and unpatriotic.

At their Saba Saba rally, not only did CORD’s principals copy Safaricom’s service Okoa Jahazi, which enables subscribers buy airtime on credit, they also threatened Kenya’s largest corporate taxpayer in the crudest of terms, demanding it cancel its security contract and withdraw from bidding for similar contracts. If the company failed to do so, CORD threatened sanctions would follow.

How can any patriotic Kenyan politicise ongoing war on terror? How can any Kenyan patriot delay the rollout of the most important anti-terror communications project? After all, frivolous delay in this matter exposes Kenyans to further acts of terrorism.

How can any sensible Kenyan begrudge Safaricom, a corporation with majority Kenyan shareholding, the opportunity to launch a world-class counter-terrorism project? How can CORD deny Kenya’s greatest concentration of young professionals their chance to deliver a world-class project?

Not all single-sourcing contracting is unfair or illegal and when the Government is faced with a war in Somalia and a terror campaign inside Kenya, no one should stand between the Safaricom project and terrorists. What we have here is a case of double speak, where CORD calls on the Government to tackle insecurity, while advocating cancellation of the security project. Politics of distraction is not new to CORD as at the Saba Saba rally they chose to speak on behalf of al-Shabaab, in the process channeling terrorist agendas.

As CORD agitates itself into a dangerous trance of irritable politics, Kenyans are facing the triple dangers of a confluence of international terrorists, violent political networks and escalating crime. For instance, there is a gang roaming about in Mombasa, committing robbery and murder, this as CORD seeks to prevent the installation of cameras that would provide crucial evidence.

This is a time punctuated by horrors such as the Westgate Mall attack, runaway crime and the recent attacks in Mpeketoni. At such a time, all effective countermeasures are needed!

The sophisticated security communications system that the Government recently contracted Safaricom to provide is potentially the most effective counter-terror strategy for Kenya in these dangerous times. An outstanding advantage of the Safaricom security rollout is that the company will get back the cost in kind while installing one of the Republic’s greatest vigilance measures and also adding a 4G network in the long run.

An elaborate system of cameras will analyse facial features and handle massive volumes of data, helping to identify and track suspects like never before.

The system will also link various security agencies, easing the sharing of important information, all in real time.

The project is to be implemented first in Nairobi and Mombasa, the two areas worst hit by terrorism, at a cost Sh14.9 Million. The deployment of the project in all 47 counties will cost Sh21.5 billion.

Safaricom has said it will accept payment only after it has completed the design and construction of the network, and launched it.

President Kenyatta has taken such ownership of the idea that he is personally engaged in its rollout on broadcast media.

Even as CORD tries to impose a bizarre form of “road rage” politics, we are already seeing the House Committee on Administration and National Security interpose itself in the path of the implementation of the Safaricom security system by invoking procurement niceties. We won’t go far if we persist in peevish and finger-pointing politics. When an individual or a group is in a state of rage, the first virtues that fly out the window are rationality and commonsense.