Story on alleged State-sponsored killings was off the mark

I have never been much of a news addict. I long grew weary of investing my time in the depressing and perpetual coverage of murders, poverty and failures of governments, and have since thrown in the towel on such televised coverage.

All news is bad news and I’d rather indulge in my secret obsession: the investigative documentaries that I’ve developed quite an appetite for.

Investigative shows fascinate me: they are well thought-out, balanced and objective which is why I was so troubled by Al Jazeera’s piece, “Inside Kenya’s Death Squads” by Simon Boazman; a piece that showcases Kenya as a lawless country with no conscience.

I know little about what Al Jazeera’s mission was but I do know a thing or two about Kenya, the impact that terrorism has had on us and more importantly, how much Kenya cares for, respects and protects religious and press freedom.

The Muazzin and his call for prayer wakes up the average Kenyan in metropolitan cities early each morning and our public events are led by a chorus of blended traditional Kenyan, Hindu, Muslim and Christian prayers.

Kenya is not, as the show suggests, a nation in which religious intolerance reigns supreme.

Watching the documentary, I was struck by a few key and very dangerous inaccuracies and subliminal suggestions. First off and in what was clearly deliberate, the documentary was laced with white faces so as to give it the appearance of credibility. It was easy to gloss over a suspicious agenda when the lead journalist and the “experts” featured are not tan, taqiyah or Kanzu wearing folk and for a fleeting second, one could forget that the piece was sponsored and aired by the same network whose journalists were this very week jailed on grounds of supporting insurgency.

The piece, as many have observed, reeked of sympathy for terrorists and those espousing militant ideas. It comes near to justifying the enlistment of our youth into the Mujahideen, and does not as much mention the hundreds of Kenyans and foreigners who have been killed as a result of the radical positions that Kenya – and indeed the entire global community – is trying to combat.

An approximate 11 per cent of Kenyans are Muslims; a cohort included in the millions of other peace-loving citizens that the Government is protecting and fighting for, a fact not captured. Inaccurately, the piece also states that the growing radicalisation and attacks on Kenya are as a result of our presence – an alleged “invasion” into Somalia.

Yet we all know that when it eventually joined the UN African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Kenya did so long after a series of assaults that date as far back as the US Embassy bombings in August 1998.

The list is long but it includes the Kikambala bombing, the attempted felling of an Israeli charted flight, grenade attacks in Muslim dominated Mandera, Garissa and Moyale and several kidnappings.

Journalism is difficult. Irrespective of how balanced a reader is, they will always find themselves criticising an element or two about a piece even when it has been presented in the most credible of manners.

The documentary however must be interrogated far beyond the simple investigation into the parties that participated some of whom are allegedly foreign. What was its purpose? Was it designed to intimidate the Kenyan Government from taking aggressive action against the Al Shabaab? Were its glaring errors, omissions and slant intended to sustain the Al Shabaab campaign in Kenya?

Kenya upholds the freedom of Press, allowing open access even when the button is pushed, but freedom should not be abused. Globally, no media house has been accused of siding with fundamentalists as much as Al Jazeera has and the problems with this piece speak volumes about these accusations.

Terrorism is criminal and the Kenyan Government must continue to protect its citizens at all cost.

Al Shabaab is here and if the Government relents for even one second, we will find ourselves the chief hosts of this ISIS-style group that is killing everybody including innocent Muslim faithful.