Yes, with 9/11 aftermath, our world has changed forever but why this vengefulness?

Public Watchdog

The month of September, shall forever remain a month of reflections with respect to what can best be characterised as a —now changed world — worst still as a continued state of precarious belligerency that threatens human lives.

Today, Public Watchdog resumes on the compelling need to pay respects and remembrance to relatives of those who died last week in the Sinai fires in Nairobi and many more killed through road accidents.

We also acknowledge those thousands of innocents who have lost their lives at the hands of senseless acts of terrorism and the thousands more killed and continue to sacrifice their lives in the fight against terrorism worldwide.

Yes, coming back to terrorism we now live in a changed world that forever has been redefined and shall never be the same again.

Why? It is as a result of intolerance and the deplorable vengefulness of a few, yet all are members of the human race who spend time planning how to kill innocent people indiscriminately, given the chance.

Unseen in history

The consequences have been devastating in every respect, and we have witnessed shocking destruction and the world held captive by fear of terrorism.

It is now apparent that travelling across the world is a nightmare due to growing measures needed to assure security for all.

Everyone understands why and co-operates for everyone’s security, no matter the feeling of humiliation triggered by some of the measures.

What, then, are the salient issues of reflection?

Firstly, it is true that since the deplorable act of terrorism in New York in a scale and manner unseen in our history by use of passenger airplanes full of passengers — as weapon of mass destruction — everything has had to change of necessity.

Indeed, things will never be the same again as a result of the terrorism that inflicted hitherto unseen human and collateral damage, and whose dark indelible mark shall forever remain the obliteration of the then imposing World Trade Centre Twin Towers in New York.

This act of terrorism came after the August 2007 twin bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Further, it must be reiterated that there are no winners but everyone — irrespective of social status, race or religious belief — is a loser when it comes to terrorism.

It is a fact that nothing changes for the better when it comes to terrorism but everything changes for worse.

Destruction of lives and property yields nothing, no matter the motivation of those championing terrorism.

Secondly, history has shown us repeatedly that our world has fundamentally been negatively impacted and no country has been spared — our nation and people included.

World leaders have, however, been resolute in their collective efforts to deal with terrorism.

Kenya’s political leadership that sometimes get easily side-tracked, has encouragingly demonstrated unity of purpose across the political divide in its collective resolve against terrorism.

Soul searching

Religious leaders across the world whether Christian, Muslim or Hindu have also similarly and publicly condemned terror, but the challenge remains pervasive as ever.

The question begs so, why is there a mounting challenge of terrorism?

What is the root cause? How can we obliterate terrorism and ensure national and international security?

These must remain our ever-soul searching matters of reflection as citizens of this world.

Perhaps, the community of nations must embrace dialogue as a means of resolving grievances.

Thirdly, it must be underscored that a significant diversion of national and international resources amounting to several trillions of dollars is now deployed towards fighting terrorism instead of dealing with the challenge of biting poverty, unemployment and other social demands in the world.

The security industry has thrived ahead of many other industries with growing emergence of new security technologies.

National and international intelligence services have seen reorganisation and development of additional capacity to deal with new threats through significant national budgetary costs.

Whilst these costs are now a necessity, the international community must find ways of dealing with the challenges of poverty and unemployment that may be breeding a growing number of desperate people who see no prospect for a decent life.

As a result of this desperation, we are witnessing a growing restlessness, insecurity and susceptibility of the unemployed to engage in crime and potentially becoming hirelings in terrorism.

Finally, we must invest resources in training security personnel so that they remain ahead of those terrorists by identifying budding risks and safeguarding security.

It is essential also to acquire more robust systems and less intrusive systems of security surveillance and detections at airports to minimise risks.

International collaboration and intelligence information sharing remains an indispensable pillar in the fight against terrorism.

No nation alone can end terrorism, but a collective resolve and cooperation of all nations, all people all religions as this is a matter of compelling public interest!

-The author is an opinion leader who prefers to remain anonymous.

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