Mpeketoni - who was responsible? Blame game continues even among police

Some of the displaced villagers from Kaiseri, Pangani and Poromoko villages who are now camping at at the Kitale-Mavuno IDP camp where hundreds of villagers have taken refuge in fear of being attacked again. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU]

LAMU, KENYA: Mpeketoni police station and the nearby Administration Police post have a joint strength of 200 police officers, according to estimates by reliable sources. There are also police posts at Mokowe and Witu, north and south of Mpeketoni respectively.

Besides these police stations and AP posts, there are at least four General Service Unit and military bases at Mukowe, at Hindi and Witu and a National Youth Service training institution at Baragoni. After a two-days orgy of violence, only one police officer was killed, apparently cut down by an assailants bullets.

The  low levels of injuries among  police has raised questions about the nature of the force’s response during those two days of violence, but especially on Sunday when gunmen besieged the town.

The question is:  Did police officers respond adequately? Did the leave their positions?    Was the County Security Committee united?

These questions are vital since investigations reveal that something close to a capitulation was witnessed.

Initial official accounts by Lamu County Commissioner Stephen Ikua indicated that Mpeketoni was hit by Al Shabaab fighters who caught the police by surprise.  Mr Ikua claims the attackers knew exactly where the officers were positioned. Then other accounts emerged that most officers were watching the World Cup or were on patrol.  

“Had police responded immediately, more  the deaths may have been averted,” said Ikua.

His claims were refuted by Lamu County police commander Leonard Omollo who has reportedly been suspended. “We responded robustly but we were overwhelmed,” says Omollo who also challenged Ikua’s assertion that the police command responded to distress calls hours after the attackers had fled.

It is still not clear where the police officers disappeared to when the gunmen struck or why very few were caught up in the killing spree. Some officials from Nairobi have claimed that owing to long-standing differences between the AP and regular officers and within the County Security Committee, some of lapses witnessed may have given the attackers more room to manoeuvre  as police retreated to defend the police station and their living quarters.

Investigations have revealed that the only officer killed was off-duty and could not have been aware of any threats. Ikua says officers had an opportunity to pursue the attackers even if they were initially caught by surprise but did not. He says before the attack, police headquarters recommended the beefing up of security at public venues during World Cup and adds that the National Intelligence Service also supplied a report indicating a terrorist threat was imminent locally.

Omollo says he never saw that circular or the NIS report. He says officers are routinely  deployed to patrol the town and maintains that the one who was killed was on patrol.

Meanwhile, independent investigations have revealed that four officers on duty at the police station have been interdicted over claims that they failed to relay information of the first attack to their superiors.

But residents say all members of the county security committee received these reports immediately the assault began and either ignored pleas for help or switched off their phones.

Most officers chose to keep mum over this matter, but admit that they did not have adequate personnel and equipment to face the fighters. Last week a senior chief said he reported to police that they were under attack immediately the raiders struck at around 7pm.  He said he was informed that police vehicles did not have sufficient fuel and could not respond to the distress call.