Sisi na Wao

Humans wherever or whatever their station in life become introversive in times of crisis. In Kenya too, aspiring politicians tend to whip up ethnic emotions geared towards the claim that they have their peoples' plight at heart.  In this light, I would forgive the Grand Mullah and other Kenyan leaders of Cushitic descent and those from the Islam faith who I respect a lot when they play the ethnic or religion card in the on-going attempt by the government of Kenya to round up terrorists, illegal aliens and criminals. I sympathise too with my friends of the same descent, whom I know are deeply affected by the going-ons.

Compare the putsch to rout the Mungiki, prevalent among the Kikuyu community or that of the Sabot Land Defence Force in Mt Elgon area- If these communities would claim government engineered ethnic targeting, this would be a fallacy and actually work towards the entrenching of criminal characters in the relevant communities, a disservice to the fight against organised crime, needless to state that these selfsame communities bear the blunt of the atrocities by the relevant gangs.

All communities bear the responsibility of forging and minding their own attitudes towards nationhood, after all, a nation is made up of various different communities with varying ethnic customs and traditions, united by geographical proximity, defined by internationally recognised borders and subscribing to common ethics and aspirations under a clear code of governance. These responsibilities weigh more to those along the international borders because the peoples along these were unfairly separated by the colonial European powers in the 19th century because this tends to make their allegiances fluid. The Sabaot, the Maasai along the southern border, the Teso, the Chagga, the Turkana, the Kenyan Somalis comprising of the six or so clans along the north eastern border and of course in Eastleigh and other urban centres are specially called upon to guard the nation known as Kenya from the infiltration of relatives with ill intentions and the government of Kenya is by default charged with working with these communities to ensure this special duty is streamlined, in accordance with the rule of law; both local,international and natural justice.

We need credible administrative structures to look back into our own homesteads and backyards and identify characters that don't go along with our national principles of justice and peace. Communities breed criminals and terrorists and these communities at one time or another become victims of their own creatures. When these communities become too forgiving they are bound to meet the forces mandated to enforce law and order in one time or another. When this happens, it is not right to feel targeted or victimized as a community. They are simply being reminded to be more serious about their communal responsibilities and obligations. Community responsibility demands that at the local level, we acknowledge that there are those among us who will not batt an eye to do us harm to have their way. It is our responsibility to either work towards turning these elements into responsible citizens or simply assisting the security forces in apprehending them-be they our sons or daughters.

When one sees something going wrong and raises voice against it, that is responsibility and the end-sum of this in a national scale is real, tangible tranquility. State responsibility and culpability in our present quagmire is the deep rooted corruption and general neglect compounded by the ineptitude of our state organs- in all sectors. For too long our civil service departments, security forces, law enforcement have been used by the officials charged with running them as cash cows, minting presses rolling out national economy into pockets of individuals. While they are busy doing these, our borders have become as porous as nets. It has become easier for a foreigner to acquire national identification documents than for a native to do so.

We,(government and governed) are all culpable in the ills affecting our nationhood and though the governemnt takes the golden measure of this blame, we need to pull together to salvage the situation. Government needs to stay on target to root out all insecurity-terrorist or criminal driven and it needs to do so in accordance with the rule of law, it needs to enhance the structures that maintain and enforce the security of all its citizens no matter what their descent is- minority or majority in demographics. Government should provide the conducive environment for ethnic communities to live together in harmony in diverse customs and traditions- such traditions repugnant to the rule of law like cattle rustling and counter raids should be condemned by all and eradicated. We the people need to critic government on its negligence and offer positive reinforcement where necessary instead of just criticising without offering credible solutions. We are in this fight together. Ni sisi dhidi yao.

Ujaluo utaua wajaluo and Ukenya uta-tuua Sote?

I still believe the Kenyan approach to terrorism and general crime is outdated. We need a radical shift in the manner of force's recruitment. The metamorphosed nature of crime and terror tactics demand the recruiters spend more time in institutions of higher learning than watching candidates running and doing all sorts of physical gymnastics to select the recruits. There's need to up the ante as the criminal is more apt to stalk, hit and run in cyber space than on the ground so the relevant skills needed have drastically changed.  Finally the need to 'radicalise' our agents by giving them appropriate respect and recognition- humane terms and conditions of service, pay and other related benefits, then demanding professionalism from them.

In tandem with the security forces', other organs of state like the regulators of the communication sector, the immigration department, the registrar of persons, the local administration, grass-root structures like estate committees, all the way to the landlord and the tenant seeking a room-mate to demand transparency and accountability. A simple act of allowing an unregistered sim card to be used, a bribe to a clerk that ends in an ID made for unknown individual, a room leased out to an unknown individual, a car sold to an individual just because they did not bargain and paid in cash could end in a mass murder of innocent Kenyans- including those that played a part in the chain of events that led to the detonation of a bomb.

In short, all persons, to a degree are charged with the general status of security or insecurity and it is high time the government took up the responsibility of sensitising all to this fact. The citizens need to be educated on what their acts or omissions could result in and they need to see culpable persons in the government agencies disciplined for acts or omissions committed in offices that are charged with providing honest services to Kenyans- if corrupt officers were trooped to courts the way 'alco-blow' or police swoop victims are being done, charged and sentenced appropriately, it is my opinion this would go a long way in raising our national morale. Let us not continue reading of officers just being reshuffled, transferred or laid off after shoddy deals are uncovered. Most of these are criminals and should be charged in courts of law. Impunity, corruption, insecurity are all intertwined and each begets the other back and forth and should all be uprooted together.