Radicalisation of terror is the petrol that keeps the fire burning

By MOSES KURIA

@HonMosesKuria

First they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win.” For the better part of the last one year, the Jubilee Government has come under intense criticism over the manner it has handled security in the country. When the crackdown on crime and terror dubbed “Operation Usalama Watch” was launched a fortnight ago, I expected the critics to be all over praising the Government for finally moving decisively to ensure Kenyans are safe.

But, alas, that was not to be. For the same critics now started faulting the Government for using “excessive force”.

It is never good enough; you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If you give me those options, I would choose to be damned while doing. That is the same option the Government appeared to have taken. When I hear the likes of Adan Duale and Billow Kerrow crying foul, I sleep very peacefully. I feel safe. Every time they criticise this operation, I feel our security forces are getting somewhere. I feel this country is finally winning the war against terror and crime. Why so? Simple. I have gone back to September 21, 2013; the day terrorists stormed the Westgate mall and killed 67 people, including that sweet voice on radio, Ruhila Adatya.

I reviewed all the press conferences and rallies that Duale and Kerrow have addressed, through to the bullet that was lodged on Master Satrin Osinya’s brain after taking away the innocent life of his mother. I even searched the statements after the blast in Eastleigh that killed 6 people. The only time they addressed a rally was to condemn Operation Usalama Watch incursion into Eastleigh, and even then, the rally was more of advising the GPRS locations of where terrorists should explode bombs as far away from Eastleigh and “our people’s” business interests.

To some people, Nyumba Kumi is about informing ten terrorists when they find a suspicious looking policeman. Nyumba Kumi to the majority of us is about informing one policeman when you find 10 suspected terrorists. When the September 11 bomb attack happened, I was watching the mayhem live from my office in one of the largest Islamic banks in the world in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What is happening in Kenya is ominously reminiscent of what followed September 11 in the desert Kingdom.

First it was the denial. Shocked by the realisation that 15 out of the 19 hijackers were their fellow nationals, the Kingdom’s first reaction was denial. No, it cannot be Saudis. It must be the Japanese Red Army. This week an otherwise close friend by the name of Ahmed Kadhar said on twitter that the Likoni Church shootings were a result of rival factions fighting for the control of the church.

Then secondly, the radicalisation. A very familiar pattern that preceded a spate of terror that took the Saudis many years to contain. I have reviewed the preaching of Sheikh Rogo, Sheikh Makaburi and other extremist clerics. If I were Duale and Kerrow, I would have held demonstrations against these self-declared Jihadists for they distort the teachings of Islam, a wonderful religion; a religion of compassion and moderation.

Thirdly the use of illicit trade such as money laundering, drug trafficking, movement of contraband and counterfeit goods and use of financial institutions as means of financing terrorism. The US Office for Foreign Assets and Control named several banks in that respect.

This Friday, Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro was on record saying they are investigating several financial institutions and politicians for suspected financing of terrorism. Terrorism is a global problem. It also has global standards, processes and scripts. When we start investigating banks and individuals for financing terror, then we are not just facing petty rascals from Eastleigh. We are facing the Premier League of the World’s elite terrorists.

There is one thing though that the Saudis got right in their war against terror. They slowly realised that the most potent weapon against terror is admitting it as a problem. The current ruler of the Kingdom, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud led the entire nation in months of self searching and looking at themselves in the mirror. This is what we need to do.

Duale and Kerrow should be leading their community in accepting that this is a big problem. This is what a young leader by the name of Fazul Mohammed is doing; trying to rally the Muslim community to acknowledge that terrorism is bad for the community and that radicalisation is the petrol that keeps the terror fire burning.

The opposition CORD is of the view that we should hold off the war on terror so as to form a commission of inquiry. You do not undertake a PhD degree about how to open a door. You just tap it open. This war on terror and crime must and shall be won.

Moses Kuria Comments on policy and public affairs