Date: Wed Dec 10 16:43:59 2014
Corruption is costing Kenyans their lives - no one is safe
Kenyans are slowly realising that endemic fraud - among public officials,
the police and politicians - has left them unprotected and alone
* Rasna Warah <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/rasna-warah>
* Wednesday 10 December 2014 17.52 GMT
*
<http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/09/corruption-kenyans-fra
ud#start-of-comments> Jump to comments (32)
Since the horrific
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/westgate-mall-atta
cks-kenya-terror> Westgate mall terrorist attack in Nairobi in September
2013, Kenyans have been bracing themselves for similar attacks elsewhere.
Kenya has been waging a war against the terrorist group al-Shabaab in
southern Somalia since 2011, and fears have been exacerbated by the
realisation that its security forces are simply not up to the task of
securing the country and its borders. Kenyans are beginning to believe that
they are pretty much on their own - a sentiment reinforced by President
Uhuru Kenyatta himself, who advised citizens to take more responsibility for
their own security rather than blame the police or the government.
Last week's
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/kenya-quarry-massacre-leaves-3
6-dead-says-red-cross> terrorist attack in Mandera, an arid border town in
Kenya's north-eastern corner, laid bare the faultlines in the country's
security and intelligence apparatus like never before. The killing of 36
quarry workers just days after the
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/22/dozens-shot-dead-in-kenya-bus-
attack-say-police> shooting of 28 bus passengers outside the town indicated
that not only were terrorists freely roaming the country, but also that
Kenya's security forces may actually have helped them cross the border.
It is no secret that Mandera, a dusty outpost dominated by ethnic Somalis,
has for years served as a conduit for smugglers, human traffickers and now
terrorists, who cross through Kenya's porous border by
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/kenya-corruption-and-terr_b_550
5869.html> paying corrupt border police officers and administrators, quite
often with the full knowledge of some of Kenya's political elite, who are
believed to benefit from it.
Even more alarming are revelations that dozens of Kenyan military recruits
who were being trained to fight al-Shabaab prior to the country's invasion
of Somalia in 2011, may have defected to the terror group and are now
operating within Kenya.
Meanwhile, observers are stumped by what appears to be the lack of a
national security strategy. Kenya's anti-terrorism efforts appear to be
based on a counterproductive scorched-earth policy, whereby entire
communities are victimised after an attack occurs. In April this year,
Nairobi's Eastleigh neighbourhood, also known as Little Mogadishu, was
raided by police and military officers, and
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26955803> thousands of ethnic
Somalis were rounded up and detained. Such "collective punishments" have
also alienated the coastal Muslim population, which views the recent
<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/11/deadly-raids-mosques-kenya-mom
basa-2014111715249473661.html> raids on mosques in Mombasa, which the
government has accused of recruiting al-Shabaab fighters, as systematic
discrimination.
Analysts believe international terror networks may be taking advantage of
disenfranchised and marginalised groups in Kenya by playing on such fears.
However, Kenyans' patience is increasingly being tested by what appears to
be a deliberate attempt by police to let terrorists get away with murder. In
June, when heavily armed
<http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/hoa/articles/features/2014/07/07/fea
ture-01> terrorists attacked and killed 65 villagers in Lamu County, Kenya's
Independent Policing Oversight Authority blamed the police for failing to
heed warnings about an imminent threat and for a slow response to villagers'
cries for help. It also suggested that some Kenyan security officers may
actually be helping the terrorists smuggle arms into the country.
Since then, and especially after the Mandera attacks, calls for the
resignation of the inspector general of police, David Kimaiyo, and the
interior cabinet secretary, Joseph Ole Lenku, have intensified. Kenyatta
finally heeded these calls this week, announcing that the police chief had
decided to "retire" and
<http://nairobinews.co.ke/inspector-general-david-kimaiyo-resigns/>
installing a new cabinet secretary in charge of internal security.
However, sceptics doubt that these changes will bring about the necessary
reforms to security services, which suffer from corruption, a lack of
professionalism and myriad other ills. No police officer has taken
responsibility or been sacked for any of the attacks since Westgate.
Kenya's security has also been compromised by the fact that for three years
Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, have been facing charges of crimes
against humanity at the International Criminal Court related to the 2007
election. It is thought they have focused most of their attention on
ensuring that they do not face trial, rather than on the nation's
priorities. Now that <http://www.ijmonitor.org/category/kenya-cases/> the
ICC has withdrawn the charges, largely because many witnesses disappeared or
refused to testify, it is hoped that the president will focus his attention
on the many pressing challenges facing the country.
Unfortunately, all these deficiencies are being exploited by al-Shabaab.
Neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and Burundi - all of whom have their boots in
Somalia as part of <http://www.au.int/> African Union forces, of which
Kenya is also a part - have not suffered from as many terrorist attacks as
Kenya. This points to a rotten and highly corruptible security system - in a
country that was once an oasis of peace in a conflict-ridden region.
However, it is doubtful if Kenyatta will be able to kill the corruption
dragon that has been eating away at the country for decades. Kenyans are
slowly realising that endemic corruption is costing them their lives. A
bombshell report by the public accounts committee, whose findings were
published by Kenya's Business Daily last week, has revealed that
<http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/police-chiefs-used-secret-account-to-ste
al-Sh2-8bn/-/539546/2545276/-/oxigytz/-/index.html> millions of dollars from
the internal security ministry were diverted to a secret "slush fund"
between July 2012 and March 2013.
The lessons many citizens draw from this is that, although a reshuffle and a
better anti-terrorism strategy may improve security in the short term, as
long as there is a police officer or a public official who is willing to
accept a bribe from a terrorist or divert public funds allocated to
security, no Kenyan is safe.
Bus passengers wait to be searched for weapons by Kenyan police in the town
of ManderaBus passengers wait to be searched for weapons by Kenyan police in
the town of Mandera - 'a dusty outpost that has for years served as a
conduit for smugglers, human traffickers and now terrorists'. Photograph:
Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)