We must focus on resolving security threat

Journalists cover activists during a peaceful protest dubbed ‘Occupy Harrambe Avenue’ in Nairobi on November 25, 2014. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Some members of the gang were captured on video and have been identified. Has anybody resigned? Has anyone been sacked?
  • The NCCK has accused Muslim clerics of either being unable to contain the terrorists or colluding with them.

When sudden death occurs, people tend to quarrel and disagree and some parents even end up divorcing over it.

Bereavement call for great restraint. The tendency is to quickly apportion blame.

We go through that phase as a nation in times of crisis, which is becoming too frequent.

The stereotypical response, as is happening at the moment, is for some to call for others to resign or be sacked and others to walk out of negotiations.

So now the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has expressed reservations about it’s engagement with Muslim clerics over religion-motivated terrorism.

A recent instructive example of how to deal with a security situation would have been how the Orange Democratic Movement dealt with the chaos that disrupted its party elections.

SACKED

Some members of the gang were captured on video and have been identified. Has anybody resigned? Has anyone been sacked?

Apparently, dealing with insecurity within a political party is such a complex matter that it needs a special group to look into it and time to come up with recommendations.

So, how can we so quickly apportion blame, sack or force officers that we recently vigorously vetted to resign? Pray, why did we not pick the “better” ones the first time around?

What guarantee is there that we shall now pick good officers? If these and many such questions are not answered, self-righteous indignation will only add fuel to the fire and play into the hands of our enemies.

The NCCK has accused Muslim clerics of either being unable to contain the terrorists or colluding with them.

Let NCCK remember that Muslim clerics have paid the ultimate price for standing up for peaceful coexistence. Let it remember the Muslim cleric who has had to resign his divine calling because circumstances have made it impossible for him to continue.

One wonders how many other clerics are taking their lives into their own hands by carrying on their divine calling. There must be many Muslims agonising over whether they or their relatives could take up such a deadly responsibility.

ATROCITIES

That sacrifice should not be disregarded. If NCCK is to be allowed to cast stones, can we start with what it has done to rein in “lesser terrorists” among their faithful? What is it doing about pastors conning poor Kenyans?

They are well known and their operation bases are clear. They do not sneak in from Somalia and disappear after committing atrocities. If NCCK is finding it difficult to effectively deal with “happy-go-lucky” errant pastors, how can it expect Muslim clerics to find it easy to rein in Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda?

We really have no choice but to keep talking to one another — the opposition and the government, Muslims and Christians, and everybody else. Knee-jerk reactions can assuage our momentary anger and grief, but when the dust over the graves has settled, our society has a big problem to deal with.

Calling for resignation, sacking or not talking to one another is only ventilating. We must brace ourselves to do the difficult job of reasoning together. We must strive to answer Chinua Achebe’s question, “Where did the rain start beating us?”

The Rev Githinji is the Chaplain of St Paul’s University. ([email protected])