- The security agencies shouldn’t take these allegations lightly.
- Thirty Kenyans have died in less than two months in Mandera, thanks to the brazen attacks believed to be orchestrated by al Shabaab and associates.
Image: FILE:
Prime time news. A beautiful anchor is letting us keep up with the current affairs. After the commercial break, I see Mandera Governor Mohamed Khalif almost in tears as he narrates to a battery of journalists hungry for news how his county is grappling with the al Shabaab militants who are currently occupying 60 per cent of the county. What a shocking revelation! This means, the population of al Shabaab in Mandera is more than that of the local population. Chilling, isn’t it?
I sit up straight, my open mouth on the floor as I reel in shock at the news. What on earth has Khalif’s government been doing until the county was taken over by these rag-tag militia? And don’t we have security agencies in the vast county? What are they doing if not to keep vigil against the killer squads with an insatiable hunger for blood?
The militia worrying presence in Kenya is not about charity or their endless love for Kenyans; we have all witnessed what this bloody group can do to innocent Kenyans and infrastructure since the deadly 1998 bomb blast that ripped apart Co-operative headquarters in Nairobi killing hundreds and leaving others with life-long injuries. The recent Riverside terror attack is still fresh in our minds.
Our soldiers have been domiciled in the peace-torn country of Somalia under Amison for 13 long years, yet, they have never managed to arrest the movement of Al-Shabaab and the proliferation of dangerous arms into Kenya. There is need to review the stay of these soldiers in Somalia.
Let them come back to Kenya and man the Kenyan-Somalia borders. But then again, the North-Eastern regional commissioner, John Otieno says that it is impossible for the government and its agencies to fully secure the vast border with Somalia. It is not enough to call upon the public to help security agencies with critical information about this vice as Mr. Otieno wants.
Why not give them incentives to encourage them to help you? Since there is a great appeal to the youth to join extremism, why not have an Affirmative Action plan for the unemployed young men? Engage them to man the border. The youthful population in Mandera is huge; let’s see this as an opportunity to find lasting solutions to this menace. Mandera county receives millions from the national government each financial year; why can’t the county assembly vote for a certain amount of funds to pay informants from border communities like Elwak and Arabia?
The regional commissioners says that there are security personnel manning the porous border which stretches out to a whooping 700km. This paints a grim picture about the reality of al Shabaab and their presence in Kenya. With these undeniable facts, it is not enough to say that the al Shabaab crossed into Mandera following the brief re-opening of the border.
Governor Khalif associates the influx of the youthful killer group to the fact that it is being fought in Somalia by clan militia and the Somali Government. If this approach has worked in Somalia against the militia, then why don’t we employ it here? We must be organic in our search of solutions for this chilling reality. I believe that the Kenyan government is committed to the growing al Shabaab threat.
The youthful militants, I believe, did not just cross the border on their own; there must be Kenyans with ulterior motives aiding and housing them. Could the sugar cartels trading between Somalia and Mandera be the culprits? It’s a known fact that al Shabaab is an astute business entity and is incredibly integral in the cross-border illegal business in sugar and contrabands.
But the militia is distancing itself from allegations that it is responsible for the frequent attacks on various infrastructure in the county. In a recent clip, al Shabaab points a finger at local businessmen for their culpability in the attack on Wargadud police station and Lamu county, among others.
The security agencies shouldn’t take these allegations lightly. They should move with speed and dig into this clip’s content and bring to book the suspected businessmen otherwise, more people will die. Thirty Kenyans have died in less than two months in Mandera, thanks to the brazen attacks believed to be orchestrated by al Shabaab and associates.
According to a local newspaper, intelligence indicate that, influential sugar smugglers often fund al Shabaab to plant improvised explosives devices on the roads with the objective of ensuring that the Kenya-Somali border remains closed because their illegal business thrive that way Otieno, these culprits are within your purview.
If someone is influential, they could be politicians or business moguls who cannot hide due to their influence in society. They own hotels, supermarkets, a fleet of public service vehicles or even hospitals. Please, Otieno, round them up and let them grill in the oven with a bit of kachumbari na pilpili kwa umbali. You can do it, now that you have a clue.
The buck stops with the security agencies to tell us what’s happening that armed people can just cross the borders and settle on our borders to plan mayhem with their cohorts against Kenyans.