Government moves to prevent mass exodus of worried workers from Mandera
Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua is received at Mandera Airstrip Tuesday. Perhaps in such a situation, the President should have seriously considered cancelling his mission and rushing back home to stand in solidarity with grieving Kenyans. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- But the mainly non-Muslim workers insisted they wanted to be evacuated from the area despite being assured of their security.
- Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Army Commander Joseph Kasaon were Tuesday dispatched to address the workers camping at the KDF outpost at the Mandera airstrip.
- The workers, who have been camping at the military camp since Monday and spending their night in the cold, vowed to remain there until they are evacuated.
- Lt-Gen Kasaon said more troops would be deployed to pursue Al-Shabaab militants into Somalia.
The government on Tuesday moved to prevent a mass exodus of workers from Mandera County following the killing of 28 people in a bus attack last Saturday.
But the mainly non-Muslim workers insisted they wanted to be evacuated from the area though Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Army Commander Joseph Kasaon assured them of their security.
Mr Kinyua and the army boss were Tuesday dispatched by the government to address the workers camping at the Kenya Defence Forces outpost at the Mandera Airstrip.
Mr Kinyua said: "The government's message is that you should go back to your respective residences and that the government is enhancing security patrols in town by involving the KDF on a 24-hour basis."
"We are providing the security and if we evacuate you then it shall mean we have succumbed to terror pressure," Mr Kinyua said.
He continued: "We don't want to give our sovereign country to other people, but we have to sit together and remain united despite being of different religious backgrounds."
He said Deputy President William Ruto has assured the country "that all that needs to be done shall be done in this town to secure the lives of people, even along the roads".
"The bulk of the risk is in this town and along the border line road and the government has pledged to improve the B9 Mandera-Garissa road for swift movement," Mr Kinyua said.
The poor state of the road under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has forced motorists to use the road near Somalia, thus exposing them to frequent terror attacks that have claimed many lives, including last Saturday's killing of 28 people.
STAY PUT
"I understand that the terror was intended to instil fear in us, but we are telling you to stay put and that we are here to protect all Kenyans in all corners of the country," Mr Kinyua said.
Mandera Governor Ali Roba, who accompanied Mr Kinyua, said: "I am the most affected person as I have lost personnel I worked hard to get for our schools and health facilities, but I beg we stay and move this county forward. There is no cause for alarm."
Mr Roba, himself a target of previous terror attacks in the county, added: "I was in tears in my house when I saw the pictures of my teachers, health workers and other innocent Kenyans who have come to help build Mandera lying dead in the thicket."
"If we leave, information will go to the terrorists that they have managed to win against us on this fight against terrorism. Evacuation is a sign of fear and defeat," Mr Roba pleaded.
But representatives of the workers who spoke during the meeting with Mr Kinyua's team at the airstrip — mainly teachers and health and construction workers — said they wanted to go back to their home counties to mourn their departed colleagues.
"We are not sure of the security around this county and we shall come back when both the national and county governments deal with insecurity in Mandera.
"Our families back at home are worried and we can't use the roads to travel because we know how dangerous it is now," one of the workers said.
They said they wanted to be evacuated while still alive and "not while dead as it happened to our 28 colleagues who were airlifted after they had died".
INTIMIDATED BY SOME LOCALS
They said they were traumatised and were also being intimidated by some locals.
The workers, who have been camping at the military outpost since Monday and spending their night in the cold, vowed to remain there until they are evacuated.
Lt-Gen Kasaon said more troops would be deployed to pursue Al-Shabaab militants into Somalia.
"We have destroyed their base in Somalia and killed over a hundred, so please stay and build Mandera.
"KDF shall provide escort along the roads. More equipment for security, like CCTV cameras, will also be available in the town," he said.
He called on locals to give more information to police about any suspected bad characters so they can be investigated.
But workers at the airstrip complained that those who volunteered information to police were being set up by security personnel who leaked information to Al-Shabaab sympathisers.
They complained that many of those who volunteered information had been killed "as police do business with wealthy sponsors of Al-Shabaab in town".
