Corrupt Kenyan immigration and inept security officers must take responsibility for rampant terrorism

There are Somali refugees all over the world; in the UK, US, and in many European countries. They do not hurl grenades into public places, or take people hostage, kill and maim so invariably as it is happening in Kenya. 

The problem, is clearly not the refugees. You can ethnically profile, deport, harass and humiliate Somalis in Kenya but that won’t solve the problem. That wont stop terrorist attacks and infiltration of more hardened cells of terrorist establishments, sympathisers of Shabaab and Al Qaeda.

Corrupt Kenyan immigration and inept security officers must take responsibility. Immigration and security is treated with so much secrecy. Loads of money spent yet these busybodies cannot prevent dodgy characters from getting into our country and jeopardising the lives of tolerant Kenyans who've been living with hundreds of thousands of refugees for decades - Somali, Sudanese, Congolese, Rwandese, Burundian. 

Somebody yapped about an impending shake-up of the entire security apparatus in Kenya after West Gate (NSIS, internal security, military etc). It still remains IMPENDING, 6 months down. 

Bunch of talkers right?

The Kenya that won't be cowed

I found the honesty in this article quite interesting. While bluntly pointing out the ills and misgivings that have denied Kenya the glory it so deserves, David Blair of The Telegraph does not falter to affirm the uniqueness of the resilience of the Kenyan nation. It is a step away from the biased international coverage that Africans invariably whine about. I could not help but appreciate. I REPOST:

Its people were among the first to suffer at the hands of al-Qaeda; they have the resilience and resources to put this latest attack behind them. 

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There is a dreadful symmetry to the terrorist atrocity in Kenya. The outrage in Westgate shopping centre shows not only the enduring ability of al-Qaeda’s brethren to kill and maim in the teeth of the biggest counter‑terrorism campaign in history, it reminds us that Nairobi was the place where Osama bin Laden’s network first demonstrated its lethal potency. Almost exactly 15 years ago, a truck bomb exploded two miles from the site of the Westgate mall. The heavily fortified US embassy was the nominal target, but a vulnerable nearby tower block bore the brunt of the blast. For a terrible instant, the sky above the crowded streets of central Nairobi rained shards of jagged glass, blinding scores of bystanders. I happened to visit Nairobi a week later and the gaping shell of the ruined tower block, devoid of a single intact window, marked the aftermath of a massacre that had claimed 212 lives. So Kenya has already suffered one of the heaviest blows that terrorism can inflict – and achieved a recovery. Despite today’s agony, the country is strong enough to do so again.

Kenyans live under a terrible political system, riddled with tribalism and corruption, symbolised by the fact that their vice-president, William Ruto, is now standing trial at The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court has given him a week’s leave from the dock to fly home to deal with the current crisis. The unusual spectacle of the men who run Kenya flitting between The Hague and their offices in Nairobi may soon become familiar: President Uhuru Kenyatta will go on trial before the ICC in November, charged with the same offences. But Kenya’s immense potential somehow manages to survive the plunder and misrule of its leaders – and it will similarly outlast the threat of terrorism. 

True, the country’s economy is dangerously dependent on the goodwill of outsiders, whether tourists or investors, and some people will understandably react to the scenes on their television screens by cancelling a holiday. Many others, however, will recognise that the Westgate attack is just the kind of incident that, frankly, could have happened in dozens of capitals across the world, including London. 

If the past is any guide, Kenya’s vital tourist industry – the country’s biggest source of hard currency – will now suffer a temporary dip, before achieving a recovery. Al-Qaeda’s attack on Nairobi in 1998 was actually followed by a sustained boom in visitor numbers. In that year, Kenya recorded 900,000 tourist and business arrivals; by 2006, this total had risen by over 75 per cent to hit 1.6 million. 

Since that peak, the number of visitors has fallen, dropping to 1 million in 2008, when weeks of violence after a disputed election claimed at least 1,300 lives. But even after that bloodshed, the number of arrivals rebounded, reaching 1.3 million in 2010 and staying at that level ever since. Look more closely and the visitor numbers confirm that Kenya is a special place in the eyes of many Britons. Come terrorist attack or post-election bloodbath, British citizens always comprise the biggest single group of visitors, usually by a wide margin. Of the 1.3 million foreigners who arrived in Kenya in 2011, more than 200,000 came from Britain, well ahead of the next biggest contingent, 120,000 Americans.

Why is this so? From the Rift Valley to the Maasai Mara, Kenya still has magnificent wilderness. But the country is tied to Britain by language, history and tradition; it is also a place where 20,000 Britons live. Many of those on the plane from Heathrow to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will not be tourists but people who see themselves as going home. Meanwhile, trade between Britain and Kenya totals at least £1 billion and about half of the companies listed on the Nairobi stock exchange are linked to the UK in some way. This year, the Department for International Development will also give the country £150 million of aid. 

On a day like this, it may seem odd to point out the obvious: that all this represents a vote of confidence in Kenya. When al-Qaeda left its bloodstained calling card in 1998, it would have seemed far-fetched for Nairobi to have a world-class facility such as Westgate shopping mall. The fact that investors were willing to build one, despite the endemic problems posed by corruption and collapsing infrastructure, showed their belief that Kenya’s rapidly growing population of 40 million represented a neglected consumer market. Since then, the country has achieved annual economic growth of 5 per cent – not enough to break out of poverty, but not bad either. That growth is based on a diverse economy, encompassing commercial agriculture and manufacturing as well as tourism.

By virtue of geography, Kenya serves as the commercial hub for East and Central Africa, providing the region’s biggest port at Mombasa and the key trade route for a string of landlocked countries, ranging from South Sudan to Burundi. China has now signed a £3.2 billion deal to rebuild Kenya’s transport links, including the British-built railways. And last year oil was discovered in the arid Turkana region, meaning that Kenya is set to join the world’s select club of crude exporters by 2016. 

If Kenya’s national infrastructure gets a makeover courtesy of China, and the nation starts to export oil and make full use of its natural position as the key link for African trade, it has a real chance to break free from poverty. That was true before 15 fanatics began massacring innocents in Westgate mall on Saturday – and it remains true today.

But Kenya’s geography is also a curse: its largely unguarded 430-mile border with Somalia helps to explain Nairobi’s current ordeal. The greatest dangers to Kenya come not from international terrorism, however, but from within, notably from a corrupt political system that serves as tragic reflection of a society scarred by ethnic division.

“Under all the layers, at the base of the giant mound, lies the same solid bedrock: Kenyans’ dislocated notion of themselves,” writes Michela Wrong in It’s Our Turn to Eat. “The various forms of graft cannot be separated from the people’s vision of existence as a merciless conflict in which only ethnic preference offers hope of survival.”

Mr Kenyatta is an authentic product of the political system bequeathed by his father Jomo, the first president after independence in 1963. Like the Italians and the Lebanese, however, Kenyans have mastered the ability to prosper and succeed despite their politicians. And Mr Kenyatta responded to the Westgate outrage with robust moral clarity of a kind that has fallen out of use in the West. “We shall not relent on the war on terror: we shall continue that fight and we urge all people of goodwill throughout the world to join us and to ensure that we uproot this evil,” he said.

In 2011, Kenya sent 5,000 troops into southern Somalia to secure the border area after a series of attacks. The Kenyan army has taken the offensive, recently capturing the vital port of Kismayo from al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate that claims responsibility for the Westgate attack. Under pressure in its homeland, al-Shabaab has threatened to retaliate against any country that sends troops into Somalia. Kenya’s military presence makes it an obvious target. But Mr Kenyatta, who inherited the Somalia operation from his predecessor, had a defiant response: “If their thought is that this was to intimidate us, it has only increased our commitment to fight and win this war.”

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The details and the pictures that will emerge from Nairobi in the next few days will be harrowing, but do not judge by appearances. Kenya’s story is one of resilience, not fragility: it has recovered from al-Qaeda’s ravages in the past and will do so again.

#Someone Tell CNN

#SomeoneTellCNN has been trending in Kenya for more than 12 hours now. Well this was a demand by Kenya's ‘twittosphere’ who agree that CNN was inept and out-rightly unfair to the Kenyan nation on its reporting of the grenade explosions that occurred at Country Bus Station in downtown Nairobi in the evening of Saturday 10^th March 2012 for a formal apology from CNN.

Frankly, I live in Nairobi and was less than 5 miles away from the site of the grenade explosion that CNN referred to in this erroneous ‘news scoop’ and there are two things; a fact and the other a falsehood that I’d like anyone who reads this post to appreciate.

Fact: - Three hand grenades were thrown out of a moving car that exploded and killed three instantly, another three succumbed to injuries at the Kenyatta National Hospital and 68 others sustained injuries from the explosion.

Fiction: - David McKenzie’s allusion that a wave of VIOLENCE had revisited Kenya

This is the typical case of unfair bad reporting of events that happen in Africa by international media: An obviously exaggerated and blown out of proportion account of a grenade attack that the government of Kenya is investigating and already linked to the infamous rogue Somali militia – Al Shabab. Listen folks at CNN, get it from me, KENYA IS PEACEFUL, there is no VIOLENCE as portrayed by David McKenzie yesterday. What happened was an isolated case that obviously didn’t warrant the amount of publicity that was granted by CNN. If I worked for CNN, I would have reported to you how a desperate cornered militia group attempted to disturb peace in Nairobi and how Kenya is dealing with it; how the rest of the country is largely serene despite the attacks. Or better still I would report to you the milestones that Kenyan athletes were accomplishing  in Istanbul, Turkey at the IAAF indoor games at the moment of the explosion.   

As he went ahead to deny having used the word VIOLENCE on air during the live broadcast, the banner screaming ‘VIOLENCE IN KENYA’ that accompanied it betrayed his alibi and irked the millions of Kenyans on twitter. It spoke volumes to the huge audience he was targeting. With all due respect David McKenzie and CNN succeed in unearthing the dark moments in the history of Kenya that we’ve struggled to deal with, a portrait that has cost us fortunes in economic terms and a priceless image of peace that we will forever owe our future generations. Whoever is aware of the violence that rocked Kenya in 2007/2008 after disputed elections definitely had a memory refresher that is hard to undo! 

Though Kenyans on twitter have boldly posited their dissatisfaction and demanded an apology from CNN (follow this link for a transcript http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56VuSrYSSWE) I think an apology cannot be the ultimate. Am trying to soberly argue with whoever is responsible for editing news at CNN: could you please develop the habit of doing a lot more serious background work before you hurry to grab a 'news scoop' and make fools of yourselves.  I am not a trained journalist but I keep wondering: Why is it so difficult to be objective and truthful about what is reported about happenings in Africa? Yes, Africa has her share of challenges: poverty, bad governance, violence etc but what kills Africa most today is the bad IMAGE and bad publicity every African state has got to deal with. This out-rightly irresponsible and contemptuous trend in reporting African affairs must stop.

Come on folks, we are struggling to market Africa here. We are trying to attract investment and people for tourism. This pessimistic countenance sure makes things much harder. Stop portraying Africa as the home of EVIL, SQUALOR and all manner of negatives. Image is very integral for the African Renaissance and so as much as David MacKenzie might have offered a half hearted 136 character apology to Kenyans on twitter, the bad image he conveyed to billions of CNN audience can obviously not be reversed. The damage is done.  It will cost loads more to change the perception of the Swiss couple that was making travel arrangements to come to Kenya for holiday; to regain the confidence of the Chinese businessman who was finalising portfolio preparations and correspondence ahead of an investment meet in Kenya and of course much more to win the will of the Canadian student that was winding up preparations to travel to Kenya for a months long research.

No amount of apology on CNN can possibly cure that. 

 NO: Do you get any DUMBER – Alex Perry?

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara said: ‘If you tremble with indignation at every injustice – you are a comrade of mine’. Today I quaver with vexation, at a downright injustice that can only be met with contempt the measure of which the demeanour of the injustice for sure deserves. An injustice that I am sure must disturb any right thinking person and incentivise them to counter. Am talking about the careless outburst of one Alex Perry, who now I know happens to be TIME’s Africa bureau chief in charge of covering Sub Sahara Africa.

At 6:12 am on Wednesday 19^th October 2011,

Alex Perry posted an article on the prevailing onslaught of the Kenyan armed forces on the Somali terror group Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen on his blog – ‘Global Spin’. At this point therefore, I advise that you proceed and read ‘Kenya Invades Somalia. Does it get any Dumber?’ so that you make sense of this post; so that you appreciate the gravity of this injustice that I could not let slide just like that.

If you don’t find time to read the post, here is a succinct synopsis. In a nutshell, Perry alluded in this post that the Kenya Government has invaded Somalia, foolishly started an unnecessary war a kin to the infamous conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, faulted the capacity of the Kenyan army and the possibility of success in the military campaign and accused the Kenyan government of staging a well-orchestrated PR exercise, a war to bolster the country’s reputation as a safe and secure place.

Dear Mr Perry, Be informed that the people of Kenya won’t tolerate your inept journalism and I join the many who have demanded an apology from you. First and foremost, even if I didn’t read this article, the title alone is insolent and provocative. Your article is poorly researched, full of unacceptable generalisations and biasedly argued to say the least.   

Invasion

With all due respect, Mr Perry what makes a military operation sanctioned by the Somali Transitional Federal Government to effect a bold, resolute move to send a firm message to Al Shabab and its sympathizers that they cannot continue to wreak havoc, sustain mayhem and endanger the lives of millions of people living in the horn of Africa an invasion?  What options are there for a country that shares a 675km long boarder with Somalia susceptible to proliferation of illegal arms and terrorist elements, a government that has tolerated over half a million refugees, spent colossal state resources at a time of economic difficulties on humanitarian aid accommodating Somali refugess, accepted loads of Somalis naturalised as Kenyans living within the county’s capital and at the peril of its people at a time when the high and mighty that you mention have obviously abandoned the Somali people, absconded their duty to humanity and avoided the Somali problem like a plague. What options exist for a country that has frankly borne the greatest brunt of Al Shabab facilitated terrorist activities of the Al-Qaeda cell in Somalia? The 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, the Kikambala Mombasa bombing in 2002, the focus on Kenya as the conduit for the terrorist attacks in Kampala, 2010; the piracy in the Indian ocean and its effect on the Kenyan coast. What options exist for a government whose citizens demand security, and indeed that has substantially invested on the military (about 9% of national budget, 2% of GDP in 2009)?

A National Lifeline

I expect you to understand this better (as a bureau chief in charge of Sub Sahara Africa), but in any case you don’t, Kenya has no oil, no diamonds and the flowers, tea and coffee certainly are meagre. We depend largely on Tourism, which is the largest foreign exchange earner, a significant source of national revenue and much needed jobs. Tourism is the lifeline of this country’s economy and anything that hampers the influx of tourists is as good as threatening the livelihoods of the Kenyan people. No doubt the Kenyan tourism industry has taken beating after beating in the hands of Al Shabab murders, abductions and piracy in the Kenyan coast and the perception of insecurity created and exaggerated by travel advisories by the United States, United Kingdom and other European governments that have done nothing serious to address the crisis in Somalia. Moreover, for a growing third world economy like Kenya, foreign investment is obviously crucial for economic development. What capitalist will commit their money in a country perceived as insecure and risky? If this doesn’t not help you understand the gravity of the impact of the turmoil and chaos in Somalia on the Kenyan people and the justification for this military campaign then you certainly have no business sitting in that office.

Ineptitude of the Kenya Army

Mr. Perry, to insinuate that the Kenya army is inept to the level of being ‘chewed up’ by 2, 500 ill trained guerrilla militia is absurd and utter nonsense. It is laughable how you choose to glorify the Al shabab, how you prop it as some indispensable army of immortals who no one alive can take on. How you choose not to acknowledge the fact that the Kenyan army is one of the most robust, well equipped and most disciplined military agencies in the region. May be that sounds fallacious to you; OK then take a look at the UN, African Union peace keeping missions in Africa for instance and see what proportion of it cradle from this ‘inept Kenyan brigade’. You mention the ‘defeat of US, Ethiopian troops in Somalia’ to galvanise your lopsided argument and unjust condemnation of Kenya’s military campaign. Tell the truth; US troops could obviously not have been overwhelmed by Al shabab, they contained a few casualties and chose to withdraw (the causation definitely attributable to a lot more other political economic reasons I believe you should understand), the Ethiopian army retreated of course after saving the Somali government and with all due respect the AU AMISOM forces have seen Al shabab retreat from Mogadishu, lose significant influence in Somalia (resort to war propaganda, like they lined bodies in Burundian uniforms on 20/10/2011 claiming they killed AMISOM soldiers in a bid to amplify the flimsy clout they have remaining) and allowed the Somali Transitional Federal Government significant scope to organise some formal control of the war-torn country.  Clearly Mr. Perry any sane person recognises the crimes inflicted on innocent Somali men, women and children, condemned to starve to their death by Al shabab hell bent to create impossibilities to deliver humanitarian aid. How absurd it is to unfairly fault such a courageous attempt to address an endemic global disaster without offering any serious alternatives.

I thought a right thinking journalist aware of the eminent complexities in dealing African problems like this one could spare some space on his blog to highlight the possibilities of success, champion for supplementary support and condemn the atrocities committed by this group instead of peddling fear, mongering falsehoods and posing as an Al Shabab apologetic. I thought a journalist in his right minds would find space on his blog to highlight the contempt of the US government; spending millions of dollars destabilising a peaceful country, offering uncalled for military support to counter the Lords Resistance Army, a guerrilla group that is no longer a problem in Uganda yet saying NOTHING about supporting a campaign to pacify an evidently troubled region, at the epicentre of global humanitarian aid appeals. 

Yes indeed ‘history is littered with warnings’ against military campaigns like this one; yes indeed the onslaught might be costly especially to the myopic who elect not to weigh it against the proceeds of a safer, more peaceful and stable horn of Africa; yes indeed the Kenyan government/army could do with better intelligence and martial support. But this certainly doesn’t warrant a resignation and a cowardly folding of the tail to succumb to the battering by outlawed militia as though Kenya is some stateless society without definite boundaries recognised by international law and acknowledged by the UN like you prescribe. If anything, like one of my comrades already aptly put it – the Kenyan government is damned if it doesn’t act and damned as well for whatever armed action it pursues’.  

I hate to admit this but I almost succumbed to the line of criticism that some African scribes I know have adopted in response to such poorly researched and executed pieces. You make me want to agree with them that this is yet another case of the ‘typical article about Africa, written by a white journalist largely ignorant of the realities in Africa’. Kenya Invades Somalia. Does it get any Dumber? NO: do you get any dumber, ALEX PERRY. I too demand an apology.