As we head into the holiday season, reports issued by security agencies indicate that we should be extra vigilant, as there is a possibility of terrorist attacks being launched over the next few weeks.
Specifically there has been a warning that 11 terrorists, "armed and dangerous", have entered the country from across the Somali border, intent on causing mayhem. And of course we still have the occasional attack on the KDF troops in the Boni Forest region, where it is alleged that Al-Shabaab militiamen are still hiding.
This caution should serve to remind us that this was a year which held deep tragedy for the nation. This was the year when terrorists invaded the campus of the Garissa University College, and killed 148 students and staff in a day-long massacre, which once again revealed just how unprepared Kenya's security forces were to meet this kind of attack.
Those are 148 Kenyans who will not be celebrating Christmas with their loved ones. 148 lives cut tragically short by this act of senseless violence that left the whole world stunned. And which turned out to be but one of the first of a series of suicide attacks all over the world, by terrorists supposedly motivated by religious extremism.
Looking back on that dark day, Garissa Governor Nathif Jama, described it as the lowest point of his life, and reminded us that "the terrorists who attacked the college did not, and could not have any agenda relating to Islam." And that they were instead motivated by "the worship of suicide and the desire to destroy".
The fact that none of this led Kenya down a destructive spiral of intolerance and more violence, is a tribute to our national resilience, and our democratic traditions built up over five decades of independence.
But none of this should make us forget that the threat of terrorism still looms. And that there can be no guarantee that we will not be brought face to face with tragedy yet again, at some point over the festive season.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective.”
Pratibha Devisingh Patil is an Indian politician who served as the 12th President of India from 2007 to 2012. She was born on December 19, 1934.