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Ethiopian troops on the boarder Photo: english.alarahiya.net
It is now official. We are living in dangerous times. Nowadays, not a week passes without an explosion in either Nairobi or Mombasa. In all these cases, lives of Kenyans are needlessly snuffed out. Kenyans now live in fear, not knowing when the next attack will happen.
Every time an attack occurs we are told it is the consequence of having the KDF presence in Somalia; some political quarters are making noises claiming Kenya should withdraw its forces in Somalia if we are to be spared the wrath of the terrorists.
However, before we acquiesce to demands of Al Shaabab we need to test the veracity of this statement; is it really true we are being attacked because of KDF’s presence in Somalia? Have we heard of similar attacks in Ethiopia and Burundi?
Yet these countries contribute the bulk of Amisom troops in Somalia. Even before AU troops were sent there Ethiopia had made numerous forays into Somalia, and at one point routing the Islamic Courts Union. Ethiopia, like Kenya, shares a border with Somalia and they also harbour a huge population of ethnic Somalis.
So why aren’t they attacked by Al Shaabab? Simple, they take a no-nonsense approach to criminality and terrorism. Unlike Kenya, Ethiopia guards its borders jealously and officials don’t sell citizenship to anyone with money to bribe and burn.
There have been suggestions that the attacks in Kenya, and especially in Eastleigh have nothing to do with religious extremism but criminality and control of resources; and that they are funded by people interested in expanding their hold over businesses in the area.
We are persuaded to believe this argument.
The issue of KDF incursion into Somalia is a mere excuse. Still, we must not lose sight of what Deputy President William Ruto said after the Thika Road blasts; that the judiciary could be the weak link in the fight against terrorism.
He claimed those who attacked a bus station in Mombasa had been arrested but were freed, on bond, by the courts.The fight against terrorism should be taken seriously by all stakeholders if we are to emerge victorious.
Dear politicians, this is no time to score cheap political points as lives of Kenyans are at stake here.
