Before the blame games, let’s celebrate our own heroes

As expected, a lot has been said — in print and by word of mouth — following the Westgate Mall attack.

Deserved or not, the security forces –particularly the police including the intelligence communities--have come under attack from all sides. But, perhaps, time has come to take a deep breath and appreciate some of the good work the boys in blue have accomplished and decide the way forward.

First, the police must be congratulated for responding to the terrorists attack in a carefully nuanced manner which robbed Al-Qaeda — and its junior partner Al-Shabaab its greatest prize; making it easier to recruit its fighters from among the local population. The police did this by refusing to fall into the trap of cracking down on a local ethnic community whose members allegedly formed the bulk of the perpetrators.

It is noteworthy that Al Qaeda’s affiliates in Africa have largely failed to connect with the public. Boko Haram’s religious crusade in northern Nigeria has been perceived as pointless nihilism to Nigerians across the religious spectrum. Many Malians were glad to see the back of repressive militant rule in northern Mali.

Even in Somalia, a protracted struggle between the Al-Qaeda jihadists and al- Shabaab led to serious bloodletting and a fall-out that saw many of the foreigners leave the country.

The proposition that Al-Qaeda’s affiliates not only fell out in Somalia but also failed to recruit trusted cadres locally is borne out by the emergence of credible evidence that the Westgate attackers were mostly foreigners. This did not stop them from attempting to pass themselves off as Al-Shabaab attacking Nairobi because it sent troops to Somalia.

Second, Kenya’s security forces — and the country’s political leaders — must fine tune the anti-terrorism strategies to ensure that Al-Qaeda is not given a foothold anywhere in Kenya, not in Nairobi or anywhere in the Coast region to carry out its heinous activities. All the security agencies concerned must work on the basis that Nairobi, with tourists drawn from around the world, foreign businesses and aid groups represents an opportunity for Al-Qaeda to pursue its main goal of attacking Western, countries, particularly Americans.

The recognition that Nairobi remains an irresistible attraction to Al-Qaeda long term plans to establish a foothold in East Africa, should make the country go all out to defeat it using every means at our disposal. This must include the enlisting of the general public in the war against terrorism because terrorists live among ordinary people long before they stage attacks. Obviously, this requires a paradigm shift in the way the police relates to the public and vice versa. Although it will cost time and money to introduce and integrate public policing, with Nairobi and Mombasa being at the epicentre of the exercise, it has to be done because there is no other way of going about this problem. But, first, the police must come up with confidence building measures.

At present, few members of the public have the confidence that the police with act on the information they provide. Neither are they confidence the information will be treated with the confidence it deserves. All too often, the public has given police information about criminals only to have it used against them by the very criminals who are in cahoots with the police.

It might also be necessary to amend the relevant laws to ensure that once information is received it is followed up and action is taken after its authenticity is verified. If this leads to a loss of some civil liberties so be it.