Enemy is within not in Somali
As I read in the media, reports on Kenya military advancement inside Somali in hot pursuit of al Shabab militia group that has disrupted the good night sleep for many in the government. Seems like a dream or sort of illusion owing to the historical facts about Kenya, once praised as an oasis of peace in the midst of region riddled with turmoil. We may still be peaceful despite some teething elements that caused 1,200 lives and displaced 350,000 after the 2007/2008 general election.
Let’s face it. Why are we at war with Somalis Al Shabab? Could we have prevented what seems to now be the greatest threat? It does not require rocket science to understand that in 1989 we only had 900,000 Somalis living in Kenya; that our 2010 census results were delayed after indications that the Somalis numbers in Kenya had risen by 140% mainly through nationalization.
My discourse should not be perceived as a campaign opposed to Somalis or settlement of any other nationals in Kenya but rather redirect the bullet hole to point us for failure to address the flaw migration rules that make us prone to eminent attacks. Ousting of Mr. Siad Barre as president of Somali in 1991 after ruling for more than 20 years marked the beginning of woos. Somali has been in anarchy matched with clan fights, warlordism and violence. Such violence force away fellow countrymen and women from their country to Daadab and Kakuma refugee camps.
Spanish aid workers abduction triggered the war we face with Al Shabab in Daadab refugees. Whereas It is an uphill task to identify individual suspected militia who for a fact are not branded on their foreheads with Al Shabab marks. The undertone from the network statement on eminent attacks in Nairobi makes me believe the enemy is here among us in Nairobi’s -Eastleigh, South B, South C… They are present in our supermarkets, football stadium they use our transport facilities and more so are in Kenya on our invitation and lax system.
One might argue that they are citizens with all relevant documents authenticated by possession of national ID cards, land title deeds or even travelling passports. The number one enemy is not the Somalis but our system and people we pay using our taxes who betray the country and sell it for egocentric benefits. The enemy worth bombarding with heavy artillery is immigration officials who receive bribes at our board points, issue passports and ID’s to foreigners hence granting visa and access for the enemies to destabilize our peace. The second most wanted enemy deserving life imprisonment are the policemen and women who receive bribes from arrested illegal immigrants and ultimately postpone their deportation. The invasion and total war should also be directed to our capitalist culture of placing monetary benefits ahead of our security and peace concerns a fact that has eroded our nationalism and patriotism and allowed sell of our properties to foreigners only to remain as squatters in our own country.
Former US president Bill Clinton advice should be loud enough to our leaders and those charged with national responsibility. He once said that ‘If one lives long enough, one make mistakes. But if one learns from them, one becomes a better person’. Similarly we should collectively acknowledge the mistakes of the past bribes and exchange of money for national document and embrace patriotic values by using similar offense to combat corruption that has exposed us to such threats.
