Kenya: Government Must Beef up Security Ahead of Polls

The recent attack on Cabinet minister Amason Kingi’s political rally, that left his bodyguard and three others dead and scores injured, must be condemned by all peace loving Kenyans. Coming as it did at a time when the country is preparing for its watershed elections in March 2013 and still reeling from the 2007/2008 post-election violence, the attack is a serious indictment of the Kenyan security and intelligence honchos, who seem not to have learnt a lesson from the 2007 chaos and the recent bloodbath in the Tana Delta.

Granted, the organisers of this rally did not notify the police of their meeting in good time. But given the recent volatile security situation in the Coast region, the intelligence and security apparatus should have been proactive enough to ensure the meeting took place without let or hindrance.  That machete wielding youth could infiltrate a political gathering and unleash terror on the guests and other attendees is a clear manifestation that illegal gangs have been allowed to roam the country freely. The situation is reminiscent of that in the late 1990s and the early 2000s when the Mungiki unleashed terror on the citizens who went about their day today routines. But with time, the no-nonsense Internal Security minister John Michuki ensured the Mungiki menace was eradicated.

Whereas we are not advocating for extra-judicial executions, there is no gainsaying that if the same zeal with which the Mungiki was stopped in their tracks can be applied to the now murderous gangs of the Mombasa Republican Council, the Coast region can reclaim its glory as a haven of peace. It is unfortunate that this group with secessionist ideologies has taken advantage of the court ruling that legalised its existence to cause mayhem.  It is our conviction that the group would act with more restraint if the Attorney General moved to court to have the order lifting the group’s ban reversed.

Ultimately, if the security machinery does not move fast to disarm and disable the modus operandi of illegal gangs, the forthcoming elections could be marred by unprecedented violence that would have far-reaching ramifications on the country’s socio-economic development.