A Nation numb with shock

Left a security officer with a gun in his hand rescues a toddler as a terrified woman sticks close. Other photo; The horror of the cooking show that was going on in Westgate which took the brunt of the initial shooting.

The last 24 hours or so will go down in the annals of Kenyan history as a very trying time indeed. In an incident that is still unfolding as I write this, Al Shabbab terrorists have rained down terror at the upmarket Westgate Mall in Westlands Nairobi.

Kenya Defense forces and crack commando units are in the final and most dangerous stage of flashing out the terrorists still holed up in the building with hostages mainly on the third and fourth floors.

Now is not the time to start distributing blame. But when this is over Kenyans must demand the resignations of certain people. Although we cannot change the past or what has happened there is a lot that we can
do about the future and more specifically our safety in future and this needs to start with the said resignations as well as a serious re-examination of how we can realistically go on with our lives in the knowledge that terrorist attacks are bound to happen again in future.

It is still a major puzzle to me why terrorists love to do their thing in Kenya so much. More so because we are not the only African country with troops in Somalia. You will remember that long before the Al Shabab
and even before 9/11 the Al Qaueda came calling in Nairobi and bombed the American embassy in Nairobi.

Interestingly in my raw notes in 2011, I carried a detailed article about the places most vulnerable to a terrorist attack after consultations with an international security expert. A similar report was echoed in the media a few months later, quoting local security experts. This means that we should have had a lot more safety measures on the ground. Especially at shopping malls where the design of the building is such that there is a main entrance right next to a main street. That would include places like Westgate and the Yaya centre.

My appeal to all Kumekuchans is to strongly resist any attempts to turn this tragedy into a discussion about religions. Now is especially a sensitive when emotions are running so high and Kenyans looking for somebody to blame. Clearly part of the Al Shabab strategy for a very long time has been to try and trigger a war between Christians and Muslims in Kenya (remember the attacks on churches in Garissa?) and although so far they have failed big time, they don't seem to stop trying. In the Westgate incident the attackers specifically spared Muslims who were asked to leave when identified. The Al Shabab fanatics then murdered in cold blood young children and toddlers whom they identified as non-Muslims. I do not know any religion in the world that would condone the killing of children and toddlers and so this is certainly NOT an attack on Kenya by Muslims but an attack by brutal, sick criminals masquerading as Muslims.

What seems to have happened
Heavily armed attackers (said to be numbering between 10-18) arrived at Westgate Mall shortly before 1 PM Kenyan time yesterday, lobbied grenades around the entrance and spraying bullets all over the place.
This is how they easily gained entrance into Westgate. Once inside, they then profiled shoppers sparing Muslims and killing non-Muslims.

The very well organized attack saw the gang split into two, one group went in through main entrance while the other went in through the parking bay entrance which leads to the roof.

They took hostages whom they are still holding as they engage Kenyan soldiers in sporadic but fierce gun battles.

There is a lot to suggest that this was a very well coordinated attack that must have been planned for a long time. Like the fact that all CCTV cameras in the building were disabled and power was also switched off.
These are two things you cannot do without extremely detailed knowledge of a building and where the main switches are.

High wire drama as ICC comes face to face with dark forces in Kenya

This boy was circumcised and then killed in Naivasha at the height of the post election troubles of 2007/2008.


A readers' comment illustrates the whole reasons behind the ICC saga better than I have seen anywhere else. Interestingly I read Jack London's The Call of the Wild (the only book he wrote that sold after years of struggle) some time back but never associated it with the evil forces in Kenya. Here is what the Kumekucha reader said;

Chris,

Ever read an author by the name of Jack London? If not, you should try him some day. His insights into the bestiality of man was something to behold, something which our politicians unknowingly follow to the letter:

“He had learned well the law of club and fang, and he never forewent an advantage or drew back from a foe he had started on the way to Death. He had lessoned from Spitz, and from the chief fighting dogs of the police and mail, and knew there was no middle course. He must master or be mastered; while to show mercy was a weakness. mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings made for death. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time, he obeyed.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild 
 
Meanwhile high wire drama is unfolding at the ICC.

It seems that the name of the alleged first witness in the Ruto/Sang case was the wrong one. The person bearing the name and whose photograph went viral on social media is still in Kenya and lives in burnt forest in the Rift Valley. But what is of great interest is the impact the whole episode had on the said witness at the Hague. She was very shaken and in great panic despite her determination to complete her witness duty.

It emerges that the episode was designed to send a message to the witness at the Hague who is incidentally also a PEV victim and barely survived the terribly horrifying ordeal of the Kiambaa church incident where women and children were burnt alive. The idea was to scare her out of her wits. And it succeeded big time.

Because of the strict and justified rules to protect witnesses I cannot say more about why the action scared her so much and yet it was not her flashed all over Facebook.

The bench at the ICC has acted swiftly and the rest of her testimony will be held in camera. This is in addition to the scores of other witnesses who had earlier requested to be heard in camera. It seems that we will not hear the live testimony of too many witnesses. There is even a high possibility that the judges could decide that the entire trial will be held in camera. And this would make sense because it would mean that the people (clearly identified in the previous issues of raw notes who did all the mischief on social media will not be able to repeat the same tactics in future.

What amazes me is how these "dark forces" in Kenya can so underestimate the intelligence of the legal fraternity at the Hague so as to think that they can do all kinds of things (including intimidating the families of witnesses) and get away with it without anybody guessing where all the trouble is coming from. Am reliably informed that there is a very high possibility that the prosecutors are about to come up with enough evidence to point fingers in the right direction which is already rather obvious.

One keen ICC observer based in Kenya is suggesting that the whole idea may have been to force the cases to go into camera and Ruto and Sang's lawyers are only playing to the gallery in opposing any such moves. The reasoning of the ICC analyst is that a lot of the testimony will have a huge impact on the Kenyan public and probably cause them to change their views and withdraw any sympathy they currently have for the Hague 3. My view is that this will still happen, even if all the trials are all held behind closed doors..

Am reliably informed that despite the brave face being put by Ruto, he is a very worried man. While it is true that even if he is found guilty, he will have another minimum of 2 years to wait for his appeal to be heard and determined, chances are that he may not be able to retain his deputy presidency in the interim.  

Some comments by those who have my latest book on PEV titled Let the blood flow;

After reading this book I have come to the conclusion that nothing can stop this terrible thing happening in Kenya again. God help our country.

Those photographs in your book were from some horror movie that has not yet been made and if made will never be passed by the censor board to be viewed by Kenyans. .

Great book Kumekucha.

Kenyans must read this and wake up to the fact that this ICC thing is not political and should not be politicized and those of us who want to remain with a country need to change our attitude towards the cases faster faster.

"I never had an inkling that XXXX was one of the main people involved. His name doesn't even appear in the Waki list. Is it true as you say that he is a master of covering his own tracks?
Stayed up the whole night reading your book. Fascinating stuff.
Get your copy of Let The Blood Flow NOW!!
  

Drop me a note at umissedthis at gmail dot com to get details of how you can get your hands on this amazing book.

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