Today marks
52 years since Kenya attained internal self-rule after a long struggle to
overcome colonialism. There have been a lot of political transformations since
then, from multi-partysm- whose drive was to fight for the rights of Kenyans
through opposition parties to the then ruling single party KANU - to promulgating
a new constitution in the year 2010.
So, even as
we celebrate 52 years of independence, have we done enough as a county to
ensure that we overcome the challenges that jeopardize stability in the county?
Insecurity
Since Kenya’s
incursion into Somalia, we have had a series of terrorist attacks- the most
notable ones being the Westgate Mall attack in September 2013 which left at
least 68 Kenyans dead and the most recent one being the Garissa University College
attack which left at least 147 students dead. The country has had well over 100
terrorist attacks since 2011, which to any sane individual is quite ridiculous.
The police have been blamed for not acting on intelligence provided by the
National Intelligence Service (NIS) about possible terrorist attacks within our
boarders.
We have
witnessed delayed responses to attacks by the Al Shabaab- the most recent case
being during the Garissa University College attack where it took the elite GSU
Recce squad 8 hours to arrive at the Garissa from Nairobi- to counter the
terrorists. By the time they were arriving at the scene of terror, the militia
men had massacred 147 students. The number of victims could have been much
lower had the response been quick- knowing that the gunmen attacked the
university at around 5am. It is very embarrassing and shameful that there were
no helicopters to fly the Special Forces to Garissa within one hour of the
attack to prevent mass loss of lives.
Mandera County
has also witnessed serious terrorist attacks. Teachers who hail from other
parts of the country refused to go back to work in Mandera following the deadly
massacre of over 50 of their colleagues in separate attacks by terrorists in
the region. This has paralyzed learning in the region and what has followed is
the calling for the postponement of national exams in the affected areas of north
eastern Kenya by the locals.
Banditry has
also paralyzed learning in parts of Baringo and West Pokot. Over 95 schools
have been closed because of insecurity in the regions. The most recent case of
banditry left 56 people dead in Nadome, a village which is on the border of Turkana East and Tiaty
sub-counties.
The government
has, to me, done little to overcome the challenge of insecurity. One might be
left wondering where the billions of shillings that are annually allocated for
security in the country goes to. Are there cartels that mint the tax-payers
money meant to ensure their security? That is upon the government to uproot
corruption from its machinery and ensure that security is a prime priority within
the country
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