By L. Muthoni Wanyeki
Insecurity. The undercurrent to our lives.
Whether or not we’ve ever felt secure is a different question.
Certainly, insecurity is the “normal” state of affairs across northern
Kenya. None of us “down south” have ever been free from fears of
ordinary criminality.
But this is different. This sense of the state
having lost the plot. This visceral realisation of old commentary on the
state’s loss of the monopoly over violence. In just one year.
Nobody speaks of the current scale of displacement around Garissa.
We do speak of Westgate. The confusion between the
different security services deployed to the scene. The looting of the
bars and stores in Westgate by those same security services. The failure
to follow up on the promise of a presidential commission of inquiry.
The absence of answers beyond generalities.
We speak too of Usalama Watch. Tellingly, its
earlier, official, appellation was Operation Sanitise Eastleigh. The
executive has conflicting stories as to its objectives.
One story has it that intelligence linked attacks
in Nairobi to Eastleigh and the refugee camps. Another story has it that
this is part of the executive’s irritation with the lack of
burden-sharing around Kenya’s refugee caseload.
The differing stories do not change one constant —
the security services’ lack of repentance at how Usalama Watch was
effected and how it is publicly viewed. They are unapologetic. Usalama
Watch is ongoing, now beyond Nairobi.
We also speak of Lamu — Mpeketoni and its
surroundings. The anger and displacement of it residents. The
allegations of un-acted upon intelligence.
The odd apportioning of blame by the executive not
to Al Shabaab but to the opposition. The conspiratorial apportioning of
blame by the opposition to the executive.
The army’s deployment on Kenyan territory.
Followed up by its deployment in Likoni. The apportioning of blame in
Likoni is also to the opposition.
The attacks continue. The deployments and
operations continue. Yet there are no answers. Everyone theorises as to
the apparently sudden sense of insecurity.
Youth unemployment, especially among men.
Historical grievances. Blowback from counter-terrorism efforts and the
army’s deployment in Somalia. None of these theories help. At the end of
the day, we still have no answers we can rely on. We still have no
sense that the state’s in control.
The executive and the security services think the
heavy hand is all. Unconstitutional legislation is passed thinning the
powers of the National Police Service Commission over the
Inspector-General and placing those powers back in the hands of the
executive.
Big billboards and closed circuit television
cameras dotted around the central business district are cynically viewed
as just new avenues for shady state procurement deals.
The fact of the matter is this. We aren’t serious.
We never have been. We’d thought security sector reform had to be both
about accountability and performance
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