Security chiefs are sleeping on the job

Over 40 innocent souls have lost their lives in Tana River, yet again. The country invests billions of shillings in two critical arms of State security machinery – the Kenya Police and the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS).

Yet spate of killings in Tana River and Suguta Valley has left Kenyans wondering if they are getting value for their money from the Kenya Police and the NSIS.

One of the critical duties of an Intelligence agency is to secure the country from internal and external threats.

Of late, the country has experienced a spate of well-organised violent attacks, grenades being hurled into matatus, pubs and places of worship.

We would like to believe that our Intelligence service has the capacity to get prior information when groups plan attacks such as the one that happened in Tana River on Friday. And armed with prior information, it would have been possible to mobilise security forces to stop the deadly raid.

But judging by the frequency of these deadly raids, it appears either the Intelligence or the Kenya Police are lacking in terms of capacity and competence, or someone is sleeping on the job.

We have said it before and we will say it again: Death of just one Kenyan in such a raid is bad enough. Deaths of 40-plus Kenyans is completely unacceptable.

It is time the head of Kenya Police and the head of Intelligence took responsibility for these security lapses.

In the old days when generals failed in war, they had to fall on their swords. That is the honourable thing to do.