Dilemma of non-local teachers in North Eastern Kenya amid al-Shabaab threat

Some of the teachers who have since received letters of transfer from Wajir County to their home regions. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Al-Shabaab first zeroed in on non-locals when it started attacking quarry workers in Mandera a few years ago.
  • It is not realistic to expect non-locals to remain put when they are clearly sitting ducks for terrorists.
  • Teachers' employer has a responsibility for tutors' safety.
  • Al-Shabaab claims to be fighting for the Somali nation, in Somalia and elsewhere.

North Eastern region politicians, led by the senators from Wajir, Mandera and Garissa, are angry at the directive by the Teachers Service Commission for non-local teachers to relocate to safer areas.

One must understand their concern. As leaders, they don’t want to see a whole generation of children denied education due to circumstances beyond their (children’s) control.

The TSC directive followed a recent attack by al-Shabaab at a Wajir school where the terrorist group targeted non-local teachers. This is not the first incident of its kind. Al-Shabaab first zeroed in on non-locals when it started attacking quarry workers in Mandera a few years ago. The message was clear: Non-locals are not safe working in the region.

It is not realistic to expect non-locals to remain put when they are clearly sitting ducks for terrorists. They will leave, whether there is a TSC directive or not. This puts everybody in a dilemma. Local leaders don’t want the teachers to go. On the other hand, their employer has a responsibility for their safety.

POLICE POSTS

Above all, the would-be victims have a responsibility for themselves and their families.

One of the national teachers’ unions suggested after the Wajir attack that all the North-Eastern pupils be moved to other regions.

That is impractical. Another suggestion was that manned police posts be built at every school in North-Eastern.

If it’s possible, that is okay. But one fears that the security forces in the region are already overstretched. Al-Shabaab are not just attacking schools.

They also target trading centres, motorised convoys and the security forces themselves. They even take down mobile phone masts to make communication difficult.

Al-Shabaab claims to be fighting for the Somali nation, in Somalia and elsewhere. I can’t understand why they would want to deny Somali children an education by killing their teachers. This kind of misdirected violence is what makes terrorists incomprehensible. If ever they take over the Somali nation, is it a wasteland they wish to inherit?

SEVERE DEFICIT

As it is, North Eastern has a severe deficit of teachers and other essential professionals like doctors and nurses.

It happens to be a vast region geographically. It is just not feasible to have schools concentrated in urban centres to minimise attacks, as TSC suggests.

There will always be schools in remote outposts, where protection is the headache. Armed homeguards as contemplated by the government can supplement the police.

When the early attacks in Mandera happened, the county leadership announced a plan to fast-track training of local teachers.

It was a great idea. It has become apparent that one of al-Shabaab’s objectives is to frighten non-locals out of the area.

There is a much-publicised incident – now a major film – when non-locals were picked out in a bus travelling from Nairobi.

Building up the local cadres of professionals will help in dealing with the problem. The three county governments should prioritise that. So should the national government.

INCREASED ALLOWANCES

Increased allowances are not the answer to make the threatened teachers want to stay. Security is the key. It was telling when the North Eastern regional commissioner revealed that three suspects in the Wajir attack were locals with Kenyan citizenship.

Indeed, non-locals have been warning that those who betray them are not people who come across the border from Somalia. They live within.

Al-Shabaab will continue to terrorise Kenyans for the foreseeable future. That is something we must brace for even as we take precautionary measures. It is a pity the terrorists have accomplices amongst us. Some have been trained in al-Shabaab camps inside Somalia and infiltrated back to Kenya. Others are just the ordinary neighbours you will find in any hamlet or town in North-Eastern.

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Musalia Mudavadi is simply talking common-sense. There won’t be another election in August. The Constitution does not foresee that. Plus there is no planned budgetary allocation for it. Our lives cannot just be a cycle after another of elections.

 

 Warigi is a socio-political commentator [email protected]