#UkweliKE #StopSocialMediaHate via Rose Kahendi Speaking for myself, I am angry about what happened in #Mpeketoni, and I am sad for those who were killed and injured and their loved ones. But I have also noticed that the same problems that led to #Westgate (e.g. intelligence was shared but not acted on) occurred in Mpeketoni. I dont think that suspending Mpeketoni area police is a sufficient response. I also dont understand why the President was telling us there was no legitimate reason for the British and Americans to issue travel advisories (no out-of-the-ordinary security threat, he said) a few weeks ago, and then yesterday he turned around and told us that there was intelligence that something was being planned in the coastal area, and that information was passed to the police. You cant have it both ways, either there was intelligence about a potential attack or there wasnt. (And the elephant in the room: the British and Americans did more to protect their citizens that we did to protect ours.) I also find it very hard to believe that intelligence services knew of an impending threat, passed the info to the police in Mpeketoni area, and the matter ended there. Even with my limited knowledge, I believe that a threat of that kind would have been passed up the ladder in all security agencies involved, and it should ultimately have made it to the President, whether or not the police at Mpeketoni proved to be negligent. (We are, after all, talking about an area close to the Somali border, an area vulnerable to radicalization, and an area where there have been ethnic tensions on issues relating to land and economic disempowerment.) If that information did not make it to the President, then Kenyans need to ask themselves why. Also, we all know that the police posted in Mpeketoni area are unlikely to have the equipment or training necessary to deal with that kind of attack. In an ideal world, militarized security forces would have been deployed. The issue would not have been left to some ill-equipped police post that served a tiny town. Going by the official government statement alone, it is obvious that something is very wrong with our security organs from top to bottom. I really hope that Jubilee-sympathizers dont allow their mistrust of CORD to distract them from this fact. If the flaws in our security organs are not fixed, Kenya will continue to be vulnerable to real security threats, internal and external. And tomorrow, the victims may be you and me. There is no point burying our heads in the sand and refusing to ask the difficult questions.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 19:15:54 +0000
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