Last week terrorists attempted to break the spirit of the country when they attacked DusitD2 hotel and office complex in Nairobi. In a first for the country the security officers acted swiftly preventing more lives from being lost. More than 700 people were rescued while 21 others perished.
The President while addressing the country praised the elite forces involved in the rescue and reminded the public security begins with them. Many critics find that last part of the statement problematic because it looks as though the government is always running away from taking responsibility and looking to blame the public. In this case, the blame is that the people are not being vigilant enough.
To nobody’s surprise the security guards manning institutions, malls and supermarkets have suddenly become very thorough; begging the question, how long, until they relax? Another terror attack? Already the talk about Nyumba kumi initiative that was mooted following the Westgate terror attack in 2013 has become the new talk of town.
Perhaps what we need to ask ourselves is, why are we seemingly disinterested in our neighbors until terrorists attack? Why isn’t it a normal instinct to be friendly? But a more necessary debate is, why should the people be told security begins with them every time an attack happens when they pay taxes to the government to protect them? Kenyans are the most heavily taxed people in the region that it’s arrogant of the government to attempt to throw the blame around. But first things first.
Terrorists thrive on division to succeed: their tactics include creating rivalry between Muslims and Christians (Westgate and Garissa University attacks) and ethnic animosity (Mpeketoni and the matatu explosions in Eastleigh). In all these examples the terrorists wanted either the Christians to retaliate and thus have ready recruits from Muslims or attack on the Somali ethnic community hence achieve the same recruitment. At the center of their activities is the exploitation of weaknesses a country possesses to their advantage and this is why the government needs to come out clearly on its strategy and take full responsibility before telling the public that security begins with them.
Take the Garissa University attack for instance. We needlessly lost 147 students in part because the area has little government presence. The security apparatus took forever to respond which in turn has made so many non-locals move (which by-the-way part of the reason TSC is having challenges posting teachers in North Eastern). What the terrorist did was to exploit the inequitable distribution of resources for maximum damage.
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