NAIROBI; KENYA: National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi led MPs in marking a minute-long silence in memory of the dozens of Kenyans slaughtered when terrorists struck the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, lobbing grenades and spraying bullets to shoppers and diners.
In pin-drop silence on Tuesday afternoon, the MPs reflected on the horrifying deaths of the 62 dead victims and 175 injured people for a full sixty seconds.
It was the calm before the storm, because, when the MPs began talking about the deaths and the injuries, they did not have kind words for the managers of security in the country.
Like their Speaker, the MPs went ahead and lauded soldiers, doctors, the police, nurses, volunteers and every Kenyan for the support, in blood and in money, to help the victims of the Saturday attack and the four-day siege at the Westgate Mall.
The Speaker had described the huge building that was taken over by terrorists as a “cage of terror”.
“We are a nation in mourning, but we are a nation more united in spirit and in deed,” said Muturi in a special announcement in the House at which he thanked the MPs for donating Sh2 million towards a kitty for all the terror victims and their families.
The House then went into an emergency session to discuss the security situation and the terror that hit the country in the weekend.
MPs jostled to air their voice, and at one point the special digital system showed that there 100 MPs who had asked for the Speaker’s green light to contribute on the matter.
That interest was the outrage of the lawmakers at the security lapse that allowed the terrorists, among them foreigners, who managed to get into the country, smuggle in arms, and hold the country’s military in a stand-off for four days.
“Some real hard questions will have to be asked to our security operators to all these bodies that use a lot of taxpayers’ money,” said Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso.
Mr Timothy Wanyonyi (Westlands MP) in whose constituency the terror attack happened condemned the incident and pushed for reforms in the security apparatus.
“When we put individuals in positions and they can’t perform, I believe. This thing did not just happen it was planned and meticulously executed,” said Wanyonyi, as he lamented at huge intelligence failure ahead of the bloody attack on Saturday.
Minority Leader Francis Nyenze and Majority Leader Adan Duale condemned the attack.
Duale whose Garissa Township Constituency, has been engulfed in terror ever since Kenya sent its soldiers to neighbouring Somalia, said the Westgate attack should be a “wake-up call” to the government to institute reforms in security apparatus.
“This is the time to evaluate the security of our country. This is the time to assess whether the men and women that we have in charge of our security are working. Our security is paramount. I am sure the President and the government will have something to do about it,” said the Majority Leader.
Duale, with the rest of the lawmakers thumping their feet, lauded the Kenya Red Cross for the response, and asked that the disaster management department to be scrapped and that mandate given to the Red Cross.
“We don’t need to have a department of disaster management; we need to give the Kenya Red Cross money. We have a special programmes department and a disaster management team, but we don’t see what they do,” said Duale.
Mr Chris Wamalwa (Kiminini) whose wife and two children were caught up in the attack noted: “I almost lost my family”. He thanked an officer Frank Musungu for saving his family.
“What I saw there, I could not believe it. When I heard the gunfire, I don’t know how I left that place. As I was taking off, I took off with my wife and two children,” said Wamalwa.
The chairman of the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee Ndung’u Gethenji (Tetu) appreciated the work the authorities had done in securing hostages and neutralising the hostages. But he complained that corruption in security apparatus was responsible for the security lapse.
“This nation has become so corrupt to the extent that we turn a blind eye or even facilitate the corrupt practices that end up allowing elements that come into the country to destroy us,” said Gethenji.
The chairman of the Administration and National Security Committee of the National Assembly, Mr Asman Kamama, said his team will audit all the gaps in security that led to the attack. Kamama called for the extermination of al Shabaab wherever they are.
“We need our intelligence system to work, to be on top of things,” said Kamama.
“After all is done, we want to get to the bottom of this matter, so that we know who did what,” said Kamama.
Fatuma Ibrahim (Wajir County MP) lamented that such attacks were rampant in Wajir, but the authorities had never taken the threats seriously.
“I think we need to abolish the National Intelligence Service. I think we should arrest some of them. If I was the President, the Director General would be in Kamiti (Maximum Security Prison) now,” said Ms Ibrahim.
“If we continue like this, the next attack will happen in Parliament (buildings),” Ms Ibrahim added.
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU, The Standard
