Police officers patrol
the dangerous Kenya-Somali border on foot and earn a meagre monthly hardship
allowance of Ksh 600, which translates to a paltry Ksh 20 a day! There are no
vehicles for patrol. To them, corruption is an option and even Al-Shabab
operatives confessed to a Kenyan journalist that they know how to best deal
with the Kenyan police officers! Your guess is as good as mine; they bribe our
officers who are pushed into the vice by the near impossible living and working
conditions in the counties neighboring Somalia, especially Mandera! KTN’s Asha
Mwilu unearthed all these in her investigative story, ‘’Terror Crossing’’.
Other investigative pieces on K24 have painted grim pictures of our tactics in
this war.
Now we have insights
into how the government has slept on the job, much to the delight of the terrorists!
Barely a month ago, 147 innocent Kenyans were slaughtered in the second
deadliest terrorist attack on Kenya, since the August 7, 1998 Nairobi bombings.
Such is the devastation that Al-Shabab are visiting on our country. Sadly, our
government does not seem to get it right. Since we set our military boots into
Somalia in the famous ‘Operation Linda Nchi’, we started a long and vicious yet
justified war on terror. But maybe we left our backs exposed! Did we secure our
borders well enough to thwart off revenge attacks on our soil? Perhaps not, as
recent attacks have shown. Westgate, Mandera 1 and 2, Mpeketoni and now Garissa
come into mind.
Our Kenya-Somalia
border is porous. The terrorists and their sympathizers freely cross into and
out of the country. More chilling is the fact that the terrorists and their
sympathizers can bribe their way into the country. They have seen an opportunity
in our poorly equipped and ill- remunerated police officers charged with
securing this volatile border. Corruption is not justifiable. But poorly
remunerated police officers are vulnerable to the vice, just like any other
Kenyan. At night they too, take cover from the very dangers that they are
supposed to shield us from; terrorism.
Corruption has
permeated into our security systems and the happenings at the Somalia border
are a proof. Police officers are poorly remunerated and basically lack the much
needed positive motivation to effectively discharge their duties. On the other
hand, the terrorists are so willing to die and possess deadly arms. Add this to
the fact that they got families to take care of and you cannot imagine how
tough it is being in their shoes, yet they are supposed to protect us from
these barbaric terrorists!
Instead of using the
Dadaab Refugee Camp as a scapegoat in this war, the government should correct
the loopholes in its systems. Equip the police officers adequately, pay them
well and reduce their vulnerability to corruption. Take up the border security
as a serious issue enough to demand the presence of our military and police
service. Back into our borders, all
citizens should embrace the war on a common enemy. We cannot deny that
radicalization is swallowing up our youths and that terrorist elements live
amongst us. The enemy is within as much as is from outside our borders.
We can still fight
Al-Shabab from within our borders and thus our military men and women can
greatly help secure our borderline with Somalia. Have we ever thought of
relocating our military barracks to the borders instead of Nairobi where they
serve no purpose?
As a nation, we have a
long way to go in winning the fight on terror. We need to re-think and
re-strategize, otherwise it is foolhardy to do things the same way that has
failed us yet expect us to win. We have a porous border, poorly remunerated and
ill-equipped police officers manning our borders, corruption is rife along
these borders and terrorists have a field day crossing into the country. The
citizens participation in this war is wanting too! Radicalization is real in
the country. Yet to all these, we have turned a blind eye. Do we still expect
to defeat Al-Shabab with all these loopholes?
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