Lessons from Westgate Kenya ignored

NAIROBI: The job of governing a nation of 44m is not a walk in the park. I doubt if there is anything that could have quite prepared the Jubilee administration for the terror attacks that seem to have grown exponentially in the last two years.

The painful outbreak of attacks has left a littered path of bodies, anguished Kenyans and hundreds of maimed victims. From Westgate, Mpeketoni, Mandera and now Garissa.

How many more victims will it take to wake up the Jubilee Government that there are systemic failures in the handling of security and the threat exists of even more brazen future attacks as the terror groups become more emboldened?

To start with, Kenyans should be under no illusion that pulling troops out of Somali is the panacea to the bloodshed.

As long as there are young people out there willing to sell their souls and mind to the highest bidder, the threat of future attacks will remain.

What's more, the Government must realise that the sledge-and-hammer approach to dealing with radicalisation and the use of force will not work.

The Americans did it in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 before realising that what they should have been doing is winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi's. But let's deal with a far more critical problem that must be addressed immediately.

The response by security forces has proved to be lackadaisical and inept. Westgate exposed the underbelly of our logistical weakness and the failure of any standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with terror attacks.

The United States went through the same scenario after 9-11 and completed a re-assessment that gave birth to the creation of a Homeland Security department and sharing of intelligence among agencies.

It worked. There has not been a major terror attack on US soil since September 2001. In Kenya the story is tragically different.

In 1998, Kenya experienced its first major terror attack; the bombing of the Nairobi US embassy and the death of over 212 victims.

That was followed by the Kikambala bombings, a brief lull and then a spring of grenade and sporadic gun attacks after 2011.

From Westgate to Mpeketoni, it has been downhill since then. The common narrative has been the poor response by security agencies that needs to be interrogated. It took police over two hours to take the battle to four Al-Shabaab attackers inside the Westgate Mall in 2013.

Even more amazing, the battle was left to a constellation of armed police reservists, a flying squad officer, an administration policeman and a chief inspector to contain the attackers inside Nakumatt.

It is conceivable that had this band of brothers not acted quickly instead of waiting for orders from somewhere, the death toll would have been shockingly higher.

The recent case of the Garissa university attack feels like de javu, complete with military tankers marching into the university compound with the same speed with which APC's (Armoured Personnel Carriers) drove on Mwanzi Road into Westgate.

The images of turf battles between Recce, police and KDF are still fresh in our minds. But what is astounding is that the first military response to the university was to secure the perimeter and prevent anyone from going into the compound.

For over 10 hours, the attackers went on a frenzy of indiscriminate killings, probably wondering why they were not encountering any resistance.

Trapped and frightened university students, many hiding in wardrobes, toilets or under staircases waited and waited in vain; just like Westgate Mall shoppers hid in every conceivable location to save their lives and who kept wondering: why is it taking the police so long to rescue us?