Fighting terrorism entails gathering intelligence

Let me personify the government in regard to this sad, mad and bad screening of the Somali and Muslims over terrorism. Having done that, let me tell you this: The government of President Uhuru Kenyatta has not shot itself in the foot. It has shot itself somewhere close to its head. This wound may fester and affect the body politic.

Kenyans must be screened and or vetted in the fight against terrorism. But this vetting – this screening – must not be turned into terrorising the same Kenyans.

What we have seen over the last three weeks is the visiting of sheer terror and trauma on Kenyans by the very security forces that are supposed to protect them.

Three things emerge immediately. One, the more governments change, the more they, the police and policing remain the same. The brutalising tactics that the colonial forces used in the 1950s to terrorise and traumatise our forebears and the great and good of the freedom struggle are the same ones the digital government of today unleashed on its own people.

The colonial Operation Anvil is the template that was used in 1985 in what has become known as the Wagalla Massacre; was put to use in Nairobi in 2014 and in Mt Elgon in 2008. We are living in a digital age and elected a government of the 21st century but it has stuck to analogue policing beloved of the despicable despots who gifted the World World War II.

Two, the government has been decrying what it has called radicalisation of young people by Islamist clerics and who espouse hard-line or extremist interpretations of the Koran. What could be more radicalising than unleashing heavily armed, obscenity-spewing policemen on unarmed and defenceless civilians, who are then rounded up and herded into paddocks to be debased and denied their dignity?

My humble view is that denying people food and water for days because they are Somali is an agent of radicalisation. My position is that when Muslims feel they are targeted by their own government, government becomes the agent of radicalisation. There is not a force that unites aggrieved people more than Islam, especially in the employ of persuasive propagandists.

This I verily believe: If I stood in Jeevanjee Gardens and abused Jesus Christ with all manner of expletives and questions, I would be dismissed as an old mad man whose analogue brain has exploded on being confronted with digital information. But, I would not dare to stand anywhere and utter a single unpleasant thing about Prophet Mohammed.

Three, as a result of what government has done, the Jubilee alliance must begin to look at Kenya’s political map afresh. The Somali may be dominant in northern Kenya, but the truth is they are found all over Kenya; they have invested massively in real estate, transport and retail around the country.

That there is a mosque everywhere in Kenya is a fact though Islam is dominant at the Coast and northern Kenya. The Coast is the home of the secessionist MRC (Mombasa Republican Council); the Coast’s legislators and governors have recently begun canvassing for a Coast-centric political party. The grouses of the people of the Coast are legion without the tag of terrorist sympathisers being added to the list.

What the government must do is obvious; it must begin by addressing and redressing what it should not have done. What it should have done is intensify intelligence gathering from 1998 when terrorists struck in Nairobi. Second, on suspecting that those sympathetic to terrorists reside in Eastleigh, the place should have been crawling with undercover officers.

These would have mapped out the place; established the coordinates of the suspects; their hangouts, hideouts; their accomplices and their day and night modus operandi. On the appointed day, the arresting officers would have moved in in full force, picked up their men and women and evidence, dispatched them to different police stations and charged them.

This is the way to proceed but it is not the way Mr David Kimaiyo’s men operated. The government must invest heavily in intelligence gathering and cooperating with counterpart agencies in neighbouring countries. Police reform must include legal, civil and humane treatment of suspects, including people who are unpopular with the government.

Overall, the screening of the Somali and Muslims has confirmed that government is uniquely talented in fighting itself. Why else would it antagonise two hugely volatile constituencies to add to its myriad of governance and economic difficulties? The intelligent way to fight terror is to invest in gathering intelligence.

Opanga is a media consultant. [email protected]