•Kimaiyo also implied there was infighting between and among the bosses of various security organisations seeking to outdo each other for glory in ending the siege.
• Says he wasn't pushed out, President Kenyatta was sorry to see him go. He says he left in the interest of the public and of his family.
The police response to the 2013 Westgate terror attack was disjointed, marred by poor communication and inter-force rivalry, former Police IG David Kimaiyo has said.
In fact, he said, the police whom he commanded, initially treated the attack as a normal petty robbery, hence, the casual response.
Speaking to the Star during an interview on Tuesday, Kimaiyo recounted how he dashed to the mall from his office without any protective gear. He was armed and ready to take out the terrorist as the news about the attack filtered in, he said.
The former police boss said that to date, he cannot say with certainty how many terrorists were in the mall, how many escaped and how many were killed.
The Westgate attack on September 21, 2013, was Kenya's second major attack after the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. At Westgate, 69 people were killed and about 200 people injured.
So bad and chaotic was the response that there was no pre-response meeting to unify the command of the security forces and to strategise on how to end the siege and save lives.
"I was ready to go in and neutralise the attackers. That's why I rushed there in plainclothes without protection but armed. I had thought this was a robbery," Kimaiyo said.
He painted a picture of a force caught unawares, suffering from lax or inadequate police intelligence.
As he ordered the Recce company to rush in, Kimaiyo said, the military also joined the fray without any advance communication, making the already appalling confusion worse. That unannounced intervention could well have put the officers and soldiers in a cross-fire with terrorists.
"It was not a case of limited or broken communication. There was no communication at all [between the police and the military prior to the response]," he explained.
Upon the military moving in, the police withdrew, Kimaiyo said.
He also implied that there was infighting between the bosses of the various security agencies seeking to outdo each other for credit in ending the attack.
Appointed in 2012, Kimaiyo opted for early retirement in 2014 despite his full term expiring in 2016.
Asked whether it was the bungled response to the attack that got him pushed out, the former police boss said he left office voluntarily, a decision that he said "President Kenyatta was not happy with."
Dismissing the claim that he mismanaged the attack, Kimaiyo said he did his best to lead the police and help put it on a stable path of reforms.
"It was not only me dealing with the attack. There were many police bosses under me. If I left because of the attack, why did the top brass remain intact?" he asked.
"If the President had lost confidence in me [as people allege], would he have appointed me the chair of the boards of the Kenya Airports Authority and Kenyatta National Hospital?"
Kimaiyo says there were coordinated efforts to undermine his office with vicious criticism and complaints that eventually saw him leave early.
"People, including politicians such as Kipchumba Murkomen and Boni Khalwale were increasingly targeting me on the floor of the House. Civil society people were also in the streets piling on the pressure. I have a family to protect," he explained.
The former IG said he had an enviable record in police service and had not "messed up in any way" but he left in public's and his family's interest.
Today the top cop is a farmer in Elgeyo Marakwet.
(Edited by V. Graham)