Duale in tight spot over Shabaab attack and his 30-day list

Aden Duale, the feisty Majority Leader in the National Assembly, is no doubt a man in a spot in the government’s crackdown on Al-Shabaab militants.

The position he finds himself in today is partly attributable to what some consider the false steps he my have made after the April 2 dawn attack on  Garissa University College where the militants killed 148 students and security personnel.

At a press conference with other leaders from the North Eastern region, Mr Duale said he would produce names of those who finance the terrorist group in 30 days, sparking an instant uproar from Kenyans who interpreted this to mean that he had information about the group but had not deemed it necessary to pass it on to the security agencies.

What has piled so much pressure on him is the fact that the latest terrorist attack – the worst since the 1998 Al Qaeda bombing in Nairobi – happened in his Garissa Township constituency.

Deputy Minority leader Jakoyo Midiwo and the Kenya National Union of teachers Secretary General Wilson Sossion said Mr Duale should be arrested as part of the clamp-own on terrorists.

“At a time like this, we do not need reckless talk from the leaders. The likes of Duale must now provide information on what they know about activities of Al-Shabaab. To say that you will name people after 30 days means that you know them and have been protecting them,” Mr Midiwo said.

“In serious countries, Duale whould be in custody as we speak. He is telling us that he knows who these people are,” Mr Sossion charged.

But it not the first time that the MP is causing an uproar over the Al-Shabaab issue. The first was when, in the wake of an attack in Eastleigh, last April, a video clip circulating on social media appeared to show him talking loosely about terrorist attacks.

The recordings showed Mr Duale addressing a rally in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood where police had launched a security swoop following a series of grenade blasts.

In the video, he was asking those behind the attacks in Eastleigh to stop doing so as they were hurting the interests of local traders. His mention of Machakos appeared to signal that they could however do it somewhere else.

“Eastleigh is our umbilical cord. You must arrest anyone who is spoiling Eastleigh — even if he is Adan Barre’s brother. Those who are detonating explosives in Eastleigh should do it elsewhere. Had the one who is detonating explosives here done that in Machakos, do you think the people of Eastleigh would have been harassed?” he is quoted as saying.

The storm kicked off by this sentiments later prompted him to come out and seek to calm it.

“What I said is that terrorists will not bomb Machakos because the people there will not hide them but terrorists have a way of hiding among our people in Eastleigh,” Mr Duale said.

When he later protested against harassment of members of his Somali tribe, Mr Duale was accused by the political class of being sympathetic to Somali members of the Al-Shabaab.

At the Eastleigh rally, Mr Duale threatened to withdraw support for the Jubilee government over what he termed arbitrary arrests of “my people.”

Police, he said, were targeting Muslims. “We were elected by the Muslim community and we shall defend their interests,” he said amid chants from the charged crowd.

“It shall no longer be business as usual. We shall not and will never allow our people to be discriminated against,” Mr Duale declared.

Pressed by Sunday Nation to comment over reports that have been doing rounds that a relative of his could have been among those questioned by the police over links to the terrorist group, Mr Duale said: “You do not want me to talk about such trivial issues when we are faced with a challenge of this magnitude. My family’s reputation is beyond reproach and I am on record saying that I cannot support even my brother if I had information that they support terrorism,” he answered.

And in an interview with the Sunday Nation, the straight-shooting, self-styled “son of a nomad” played down the current matter and explained that what he said at the press conference was not in his individual capacity. “At the conference I spoke on behalf of leaders from North Eastern region. It was not my script. We should not engage in a blame game. We need unity across the board to fight Al-Shabaab,” he said.

Some took to social media to condemn him over the remark under the hash tag #ArrestDuale, which has been trending.

“These are sideshows that I wish not to be dragged into. For bloggers who author such, I wish them well,” the MP said.

He also came under stinging attack for reportedly suggesting that the government needed to negotiate with the extremist group. He has since denied saying this.

“We have not asked that we negotiate with terrorists. What we have done is to ask communities who have their relatives across the border to share intelligence with us so we can foil the attacks,” he said.

Together with security agencies, Mr Duale has been tasked by President Uhuru Kenyatta to help the government smoke out those aiding the jihadist group to carry out sectarian violence on innocent Kenyans.

The Majority Leader said he has been shuttling between Nairobi and Garissa trying to gather information to help break the militia’s network.

The Sunday Nation has established that after the attack, Mr Kenyatta asked Mr Duale to lead other politicians from the North Eastern region that borders Somalia to help the government in its fight against radicalisation of the youth.

They have since organised a series of rallies where they have condemned the group.

“We had a meeting with him (President), and we brief him every day about progress here. What we are doing has the blessings of the President, and we will be in the region for the next seven days. We are in Garissa, then Wajir, followed by Mandera and Mombasa to speak to all the Muslims about this problem,” he confirmed.

The President’s assignment reportedly came after he became convinced that political leaders from the region could do more to supplement what security agencies are doing to defeat Al-Shabaab.

Following the attack, outspoken Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi claimed it had been carried out by local networks of the militia.

But Mr Duale disagrees.

“There was no ethnic cleansing here. When I was elected MP, Christians were being killed, and the aim was to create conflict between Muslims and Christians. In Somalia, they are killing Muslim Somalis. I want to ask our people not to fall into the trap,” he said.

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Muslim leaders have from time to time complained about the government’s crackdown on Muslim extremists citing harassment.

Being the senior-most government official from North Eastern puts Mr Duale in a rather precarious position given that the region is more or less a gateway for the militants who sneak into the country through the porous borders.

Some also bribe their way into the country, a headache for security chiefs.

In terms of the pecking order after the President, his deputy, speakers of Parliament and the Chief Justice, the Majority Leader is the man to watch were there to be a power vacuum and so his position is crucial in government.

Mr Duale is also the chairman of the North Eastern Parliamentary Group.

“I am not the minister for Interior, but I have an obligation to offer leadership when the security of our country is at stake. Let us not trivialise the fight on Al-Shabaab; we will be playing into their hands,” he said.

Mr Midiwo asked the government to carry out a census on all communities living in border counties for ease of knowing those who crosses from Somalia.

“It is high time Jubilee government seized the opportunity to count every Kenyan living in the region and give them identification documents so as to monitor them, we want to know who they are. There are many of them who are not registered, posing a security nightmare,” he said.

As Mr Midiwo spoke, Mr Duale also told the Sunday Nation of a comprehensive plan they have to help weed out Al-Shabaab adherents.