From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013
Doreen from Nairobi writes: “Fr Beste from what I read in your last paragraph of your today’s dispatch of why the commission of inquiry of Westgate attack formed by President Uhuru Kenyatta will not avail the report to the public because none of such reports have been made public because they implicate big people, don’t you think this is a waste of taxpayers’ money?”
I also read somewhere online that many have been tempted to draw up their own conclusions over the timing of the attack, considering that President Uhuru Kenyatta, and his Deputy, William Ruto, are facing ICC trials at The Hague.
And that almost three months ago former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, had in one of his interviews with Citizen TV, categorically hinted that President Uhuru Kenyatta, and, William Ruto, were planning to destabilize the country ahead of their ICC trials to interrupt and delay their cases. What is your take on this?
Doreen has raised very important issue. It has proved beyond doubt that in Kenya the outcome of the inquiries cannot be made public because in most cases they implicate people who form them. They are not independent because they are formed by the head of states that can or not release them.
Concerning what you read online, I did the same. It was reported by the Kenyan Daily Post that former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga had in one of his interviews with Citizen TV, categorically hinted that President Uhuru Kenyatta, and, William Ruto, were planning to destabilize the country ahead of their ICC trials to interrupt and delay their cases.
The Daily post reported that Raila noted that their aim was to make sure that the country becomes so unstable to justify their application to halt their trials or defer them in the name of national security.
Since then, a number of horrible things have happened in the country, whose aim was to throw the national security into jeopardy and destabilize the country. Among them include; the Westgate attack, Wajir killings, Western killings, Mandera killings and to some extent Tana River killings, where no meaningful resolution by the Government has been made.
The same daily Post reported that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) is blaming Raila Odinga, and Homabay Senator, Otieno Kajwang, in connection with Saturday’s mall attack where over 70 people died and hundreds injured.
According to latest reports which were presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday, Raila Odinga’s “men” were in charge of the “terrorism surveillance department” in the NSIS and it seems they slept on their job which led to loss of innocent civilians on Saturday’s mall attack.
The NSIS sources according to the report say when Raila Odinga was one of the Principals of the coalition Government, he appointed his cronies as senior members of the NSIS and they have been sleeping on their job.
Regarding Kajwang, the NSIS said the former Immigration Minister issued hundreds of permits to terrorists who will later strike Kenya last Saturday.
Credible reports according to the Daily Post indicate that the terrorists were issued permits by Kajwang’s office last year when he was immigration boss. Other reports indicate that the said terrorists used fake Identity Cards supplied by corrupt Government officials as early as last year during Kajwang’s reign as Immigration Minister.
The same Daily Post reported that the Sunday Nation Political columnist, Prof Makau Mutua, demanded that President Uhuru Kenyatta should resign because he was aware of the Westgate terror attack and he was unable to stop it.
According to counter terrorism reports seen by the Kenyan DAILY POST, President Uhuru Kenyatta was briefed by the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) in mid September when intelligence reports showed that the Al Shabaab had intensified activities in Kenya and were planning a major attack.
On his twitter account on Saturday, Makau who is a Distinguished Law Professor at Buffalo Law School in New York said President Kenyatta and his Kikuyu cronies are supposed to resign since they were unable to stop last Saturday’s mall attack in Westgate where over 70 people died and hundreds injured.
On the other hand, Raila Odinga wants the government to explain how suspected terrorists who stormed Westgate Mall in Nairobi got into the country. Raila was quoted to have said the government should come out clean over the issue to avoid speculations.
Raila said Kenyans need to know how they had access into the country, who issued them with the permits and how it was done. Raila blamed the Jubilee government for laxity on security matters within the country.
Raila also took issue with the National Intelligence Service for sleeping on the job at the expense of the lives of innocent Kenyans. “Somebody somewhere must be held responsible for this,” he said.
Raila made the remarks while addressing a gathering in Kisumu after paying a courtesy call to former Jaramogi aide Odungi Randa, in his Jua Kali office on his way to Siaya to drum up support for ODM’s candidate for Siaya gubernatorial seat.
On the other hand, the National Intelligence Service claims to have given advance warning of the Westgate attack, according to some security officers.
Gen Michael Gichangi, NIS Director General, is due to meet MPs of the Defense and Foreign Relations committee on condition that he testifies in public, condition Defense committee Chairman Ndungu Gethenji (Tetu) has objected.
May be there is something Gichangi knows about the attack that he would want the public know but Ndungu Gethenji is afraid of. This of course leaves a lot to be desired as speculations to who exactly planned for the attack and why.
Two NIS officers who did not want their identities revealed told the Star that their organisation had given advance warning of the attack to Inspector General of Police Service David Kimaiyo and Criminal Investigations Department director Ndegwa Muhoro. This also leaves a lot to be desired since the security did not act on the report to prevent the attack.
If this is the case then there is no doubt that Kimaiyo and Muhoro should also be investigated to discern why they did not act on the information. It means they were aware of the plan.
It will also require that some senior officers within the Office of the President should be investigated why they suppressed intelligence reports. And if this is true the NIS was not to blame for the Westgate attack. No wonder why the director wants the hearing be made in public so that Kenyans can know nothing but the truth.
The Office of the President should also tell Kenyans what happened when it emerged that a policewoman recorded a statement after her brother who works for the NIS warned her not to visit Westgate on Saturday because of an impending attack.
The pregnant policewoman regularly went window shopping in Westgate on Saturdays.
“She has told police that her brother who is a NIS officer warned her not to visit Westgate that Saturday because she would not be able to run with her bulging tummy,” a senior officer involved in the investigation said.
The Office of the President should also make in public what the policewoman who was picked up from her home on Tuesday night and taken to CID headquarters on Kiambu road where she was interrogated for four hours before being allowed to go home.
For this reason Gichangi should be allowed to testify in the open so that Kenyans come to know the truth about the attack. The NIS had also warned the police about the danger before the Baragoi massacre but the police ignored the intelligence reports.
If this is the case then there is no doubt that Uhuru Kenyatta must have been briefed but ignored to act. This again leaves a lot to be desired. It leaves more questions than answers.
The Daily Telegraph details 29 separate intelligence warnings linked to al-Shabaab activity in Kenya in the last 12 months. Nairobi mall attack: Westgate was named as a target a year ago.
As the row between Kenya’s internal security agencies escalated on Friday, a file of alerts seen by Exactly a year before last weekend’s shopping centre attack, one names three Islamist agents who were in Nairobi and “planning to mount suicide attacks on undisclosed date, targeting Westgate Mall”.
Four months later, on February 1, there were warnings that al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab operatives were plotting attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa.
“The envisaged modus operandi include, but is not exclusive to, Mumbai-attack style, where the operatives storm into a building with guns and grenades and probably hold hostages,” said the documents, from the National Intelligence service and passed to The Daily Telegraph.
The immediate aftermath has been questions: what did the National Intelligence Service know, when did they know it, and what did they do with that information? What did the Kenya Police Service know, when did they know it and what actions did they take? What did the Kenya Defence Forces know, when did they know it, and what did they do with that information? Is there a scenario where the entire incident or part of it, including some of the deaths and injuries, could have been avoided?
Other questions include why the numbers of the dead and injured did not change, even after the building came down. Were there no more hostages or even terrorists in the building at that point? So who brought the building down? Where are the terrorists? Did they escape? Were they captured? Were they killed? Where are their bodies?
Other questions include: was there a joint command amongst our security agents during the attack? Was there an incident that led to fatalities amongst some of our security agents from friendly fire? Is there a protocol of engagement, even as a theoretical paper, on how to deal with a terrorist attack?
Which agency takes the lead? Where does the buck stop? Who looted Westgate shops? What has been done to the looters? How do we assure Kenyans that the next time something like this happens they can trust the armed forces for their protection and that of their property?
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002