Kenya’s intelligence mandarins must go back to drawing board

Kenya Defense Forces arrive at the Westgate mall in Nairobi on September 22, 2013. Al-Shabaab sought to break the Kenyan spirit, but we cannot cave in to their threats and intimidation. FILE 

By MARVIN SISSEY

In Summary

• The Westgate terrorist attack is a wake-up call for authorities to step up security.

Last Saturday’s terrorist attack on Westgate mall was shocking. On display was the essence of the human spirit at opposing ends of the humanitarian spectrum.

On one side we saw the incomprehensible, disgusting and evil capabilities of some characters who don’t deserve to be referred to as human beings since even wild animals would know and do better.

They massacred innocent beings, including women and children, at will under the mistaken illusions of religious bigotry and misplaced hatred.

On the other side we saw a demonstration of the indomitable will of the human spirit as Kenyans heroically rallied to unite and face the monster of terrorism with a solid resolve, rising up to the occasion as one people ready to face a common enemy; united not by patriotism nor by blood or kinship but by a single humanity accord.

Mahatma Gandhi was right when he said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

Enough with the rhetoric. Before our tears dry up, before we let our new-found plastic unity dissipate, before we find ourselves wallowing in our normal ethnic-fuelled politics, and before we delight in our iconic myopic memories as we conveniently forget our tragedies and start discussing non issues like the ICC and MPs’ salaries, it is time to take stock and seek answers to the hard questions.

My challenge to the media is that it should take leadership and get to the root of the matter. Let us ignore politicians who are ruing at every opportunity lost to regain the limelight, and like vultures they will not mind using the tragedy to further their political ambitions.

Let us keep our eyes on the ball and like a keen surgeon, dissect the rot of our security apparatus and hopefully shock our authorities into action.

‘‘Is the Westgate incident a case of chickens coming home to roost?’’ Methinks that might be the case. It is clear that the writing has been on the wall all along. It is an open secret that Kenya is a high risk state which is increasingly targeted by terrorists.

The unfortunate bit is that at the beginning this was not our war. Starting with the 1998 US Embassy bombing, it is clear that acts of terrorism were initially targeted at Western powers and that Kenyans were simply collateral damage.

That was until we couldn’t help it any more and were forced to declare war on Somalia which has been hosting terrorists.

When we invaded Somalia, the main intention was to deter terrorists from using the country as a base to attack Kenyans and their businesses.

Our media screamed triumphant headlines as we were made to think that Al-Shabaab militants had been subdued and Mogadishu and Kismayu taken over.

The unfortunate bit is that since the alleged take over, sporadic attacks on our land have increased in incidence and scale with the Wesgate mall attack being a climax of atrocious proportions. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

When effects of the latest terrorist attack start reverberating in our economy, we will realise that it is no longer business as usual. One blogger, KenyaStockholm, couldn’t have posed this question better. Why are there no Kenyans demanding that KDF gets out of Somalia, an expensive adventure that is responsible for the Westgate massacre and that will continue to haunt the country regardless of what politicians are saying?