A police investigation into security officers’ response to the Garissa massacre has put the spotlight on massive corruption inside the Garissa Anti-Terrorism Police Unit. The report has also noted that there was a breakdown ofcommunication and command between the diverse security agencies that responded to the terror attack.
The report, handed to Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett yesterday, recommended that deeper investigations be carried into allegations that the Garissa ATPU officers had been compromised and are therefore unable to deal with terrorism.
The report comes amid an outcry from MPs de- manding the prosecution of security commanders in Garissa county for what they term failure to prevent the terror attack at Garissa University College in which 147 people, mostly students, died.
MPs Kamau Ichung’wa (Kikuyu) and Alois Lentoimanga (Samburu North) said they plan to file a Mo- tion in the House to discuss the officials’ conduct. The MPs addressed the media at Parliament Buildings and asked Interior Secretary Joseph Nkaissery to suspend officials, investigate and charge them with criminal negligence for having aided and abetted terrorism.
“We have information that actionable intelligence was received that Garissa and Mombasa universities were to be attacked. But the officials did nothing to prevent the attack,” Ichung’wa said yesterday. The MPs named the officers as Njenga Miiri (county commissioner), Charles Kinyua (county police commander), Benjamin Ong’ombe (OCPD) and the OCS, whose name was not immediately available.
The MPs accused the officials of having ignored the intelligence reports and failing to mobilise security officers to prevent the at- tack. However, the police report handed to the IG yesterday concentrated on Garissa and did not extend to the national level, where a similar situation of confusion, breakdown of command and communication was experienced.
The Star has learnt that main actors such as GSU Commandant Joel Kitili, CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro and top police chiefs at Vigilance House, remained in the dark over the attack until 7am. Kitili, under whose jurisdiction the Recce Unit falls, left Nairobi for the Turkwell area at around 6.45am to oversee a GSU operation to re-open a road blocked by locals protesting insecurity. It was not until around 8am that he was informed of the attack and instructed to plan the deployment of Recce Unit. Sources said Muhoro was in his office as early as 5.45am.
He was just about to leave for a meeting at Vigilance House at 7am when he was informed that the meeting had been called off because Boinett and Nkaissery had already left for Garissa. Sources said there was no central command for the AP, Police, CID and Military officers who responded to the attack, making rescue operations difficult.