It’s wrong to blame Cord, Mungiki or MRC for massive security failures

The World Cup so far has played a wonderful role in diverting our attention from our stupid politics. Every goal, every mazy run, every defence-splitting pass, and even every bite, has elicited cheers and groans around the world.

But not even the gazillions of screaming fans bringing the roofs down in Manaus, Cuiba, Porto Alegre, Curtiba, Fortaleza and other cities in Brazil hosting the greatest soccer show on earth can completely divorce us from the tired realities at home.

This edition of the global festival has introduced an interesting innovation, but one that jolts me back to reality. Every time the referee bends down to spray that magic line on the turf marking the limit of the defensive wall during a free-kick, I get the nightmare I want to escape from; I see one Joseph ole Lenku.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have absolutely nothing personal against our Cabinet Secretary for Interior. Often I feel for the hapless fellow welcomed with a proper baptism by fire to the most crucial security docket.

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He hardly had a grace period to figure out where bathrooms and kitchens were before damnation visited in the form of Al-Shabaab terrorists and all the other armed bandits and criminals that want to make Kenya a living hell.

He would probably have been treated with a bit of sympathy had he not set out to display from the very beginning, the Westgate Mall terrorist attack last September, that he was spectacularly unprepared for the challenging assignment.

PITIABLE GRAVITAS

Instead of learning from the Westgate debacle, however, Mr Lenku seems even more determined to call national attention to his serial goofs and gaffes.

Just the other week, the Internal Security boss caused fury and consternation when he pointed the finger at the opposition for the terror attack in Mkepetoni.

They had “crossed the red line” he intoned with all the pitiable gravitas he could muster. His red line could have been dismissed as cheap political shot fired at the legitimate opposition in the wake of a massive security failure.

However, it received official imprimatur when President Uhuru Kenyatta, no less, declared Al-Shabaab innocent.

He somehow managed to pin the finger of blame on both local Lamu County rivalries, and the ongoing series of rallies called by Cord leader Raila Odinga to press the case for national dialogue.

In the meantime Lamu Governor Issa Timamy has been charged with grave offences, much like those facing President Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, at the International Criminal Court.

Local police chiefs and government administrators have been removed, amidst indications that they had advance warning of the impending attacks but failed to take action.

Nobody has yet explained whether the same National Intelligence Service briefs had reached the President, the Interior Secretary, and Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo as would be the norm on any serious security warnings.

RAUCOUS DEMANDS

There has been absolutely no indication of stern action against Mr Odinga and other opposition leaders accused of crossing Mr Lenku’s red line. The Cabinet Secretary has not brandished the Red Card at Mr Odinga or even hauled him in for questioning.

But he is still coming up with more ridiculous accusations, over the weekend bringing the Mombasa Republic Council and the Mungiki gang of central Kenya into the mix.

He claimed that politicians, whom he didn’t name, arrest and prosecute, were using the two criminal gangs to cause instability and chaos.

It is not difficult to decipher where Mr Lenku is pointing fingers, for he has been reduced to a mere mouthpiece in the insidious propaganda at which the Jubilee administration excels.

Mr Odinga does himself no favours with his increasingly raucous demands for a national conference. His campaign seems more designed to replicate the Saba Saba rebellion that brought down the single-party regime, rather than to provide a forum for constructive national dialogue.

The alacrity with which he jumps into bed with unsavoury elements, such as Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, does little to indicate a peace-loving, law-abiding champion of democracy.

But that cannot provide any excuse for the national security establishment to accuse him for its own failings.

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