The Question Of President Kibaki's Security

The World Cross-country championships came and went peacefully and without incident in Mombasa.

An interesting aside here is that our local team opted for Mombasa to make full use of the home advantage since they were sure other competitors would be very uncomfortable in the humid Mombasa climate, which the locals would find much easier to acclimatize to. What they did not bargain for was the weather being extraordinarily hot and humid. Mombasa residents report that in recent weeks, conditions at the coastal town have been the hottest and most humid witnessed in years and toddlers and young children who are not new to the coastal city are still ending up with painful heat rashes all over their bodies. So it was not surprising that pre-race favorite, Kenenisa Bekele gave up and dropped out of the race. In fact virtually every Kenyan athlete interviewed by the press later, complained about the heat.
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But on to my main point here, which is security. Actually the security arrangements in Mombasa this past weekend were unprecedented in the history of Kenya. Families in one entire block of houses too close to the venue were moved to hotels (well over 500 units of houses I total) and the government of Kenya paid for their temporary accommodation and food. They were asked to lock up their houses and leave for the weekend as an entire block was cleared for security reasons. (I wonder what the total bill for the event was, it has to be a lot higher than the Kshs 400 million figure given in the press).

The crack, well-trained paramilitary GSU oversaw the whole operation with a lot of help from various departments of the Kenyan armed forces. It was a job well done, Kudos to the organizers and all those who were responsible.

Then somebody started circulating all sorts of rumours in town to keep people away from the Island on Saturday. It was said that police would arrest anybody who showed up in the city center with bedroom slippers (very laughable rumour but some Coastal folk took it very seriously). It was also whispered that the police were out to arrest and lock up for the weekend anybody looking like a Muslim (that would mean arresting fairly large chunk of the Mombasa population). Still this did not stop a fairly large crowd turning up to cheer the Kenyan runners on, as they easily clichéd the group title.

I still maintain that it was an unnecessary risk for the President to have been in Mombasa and I also insist that those charged with the president's security need to pull up their socks.

A reader of this blog who seems to be fairly familiar with the president's security arrangements pointed out here that the same people charged with former president Moi's security are the same people looking after President Kibaki. This is definitely not true simply because the leadership has changed. You don't see that bald headed guy anymore (I forget his name, although it was closely guarded secret).

Then there is also the fact that a president's security is as good as the president's own security consciousness. President Museveni of Uganda is the most security-minded of the three East African president's and it is clearly reflected in his security arrangements.

President Moi found himself in the middle of a botched up coup-attempt to topple him in 1982 and it is said that from then henceforth he became paranoid about his security. This was a far cry from the 1981 when it is said that the president slipped out of State House, Nairobi alone and took a walk to the Nairobi University. He later told his furious security detail who had been sweating blood looking for him, that his protection was in the Kenyan people and as long as he was with the people, he was safe. After August 1982, there is plenty of evidence that President Moi changed his views dramatically on this issue.

The problem with President Kibaki is that nothing alarms him. Therefore he over rules many of his excellent security advisors on many key issues. I have a feeling that this Mombasa trip was one of the instances where he over-ruled advice given to him.

Behavioral experts will tell you that people are as alert and effective as their leadership is. Thus it is hardly surprising that this don't-care attitude seems to have permeated from the highest authority in the land, down to his security heads and right down to the foot soldiers and ordinary police officers who find themselves on duty as part of the security detail when the president is passing somewhere.

This explains the laxity and security breach when my man was able to approach the motorcade carrying a huge yellow paper bag. I assure you that would NOT have been allowed during the Moi days.

This blogger is as patriotic as they come, and in fact more so. And my pointing out this laxity is not criticism for the sake of it but hopefully a wake up call for those responsible to put their act together.

We should not forget that the mood with one of our neighbors has shifted dramatically in recent times. It is widely believed amongst the Somalian community both here and in Somalia (actually there is no difference between the two; Somalians are Somalians, whether they are in Kenya or Somali or Puntland) that the Kenyan government aided the Americans with intelligence and logistical support in the American air raids and bombings of villages where scores of innocent women and children died. The facts, whatever they are, are not important in this case, what matters is what is believed on the ground.

This is an issue that should not be taken lightly and is a great danger to our national security as a country. It is important that in the future we display more responsibility than we did last weekend in Mombasa. This is not about petty internal politics between ODM and Narc-Kenya.

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