Hiiraan Online
3/28/2024
Today from Hiiraan Online:
Home
Somali Map
Sports
Opinion
RSS
Somali Music
Contact Us
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
advertisements
Missed chances to preside over rebirth of nationalism
Sunday May 11, 2014
advertisements
There have been more than 80 documented terror attacks in Kenya since the Kenya Defence Forces went into Somalia in 2012. From this cycle of tragedy, the country’s top leadership has had a chance to rally up the populace in fierce unity and loyalty to the Kenyan state.
Instead, politics of tribe, blame and finger pointing have taken centre stage as the nation fights its biggest war yet. With this, deeper cracks have emerged in what was once an island of peace.
Leaders in other countries who found themselves in similar circumstances turned the adversity into a rallying point for a fierce rebirth of nationalism. Following the September 11 attacks, the then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is credited to having marshalled New Yorkers and forged a lasting image of resilience among those who lived through the city’s darkest moment.
In a 2007 article, the New York Times wrote that at the time of the crisis, Giuliani etched his name in leadership by “mourning the dead, comforting the grieving and cheering the living even as the police and the National Guard moved in. His critics have lambasted the rescue failures at ground zero and argued that his inattention before 9/11 cost lives. But his performance, the article continues, shone brighter for the implicit comparison with President George W Bush, who initially appeared — fairly or not — froze in his chair, listening to second graders read as the nation came under attack. The 2005 London Tube Bombings occurred when Prime Minister Tony Blair was at a G8 summit in Scotland.
After he received news of the attacks, this is what he said in part: “it is my intention to leave the G8 summit within the next couple of hours and get a report from the ministers and emergency crews dealing with this matterial¦”
After the Thika Road twin blasts, social media was abuzz after it was announced that President Kenyatta was going on an official trip to Lagos, Nigeria. Some, including politicians, thought this was not a right move.
“We have a leadership that is too casual on matters security. Any leadership ought to be concerned even when one life is lost in such circumstances. The fact that the president found it necessary to fly to Lagos on the day when his capital was under attack smacks of arrogance and insensitivity,” Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba said.
State House, however, says the President was already out of the country at the time of attacks and his absence did not translate into a power vacuum.
“Those who think like this should read the Constitution and stop living in the old times. There was no vacuum. The Deputy President immediately took over,” State House Director of Communications Munyori Buku said.
After the Westgate Mall attack, President Kenyatta spoke publicly for the first time hours after the attack. At that time, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero had urged Kenyans to go about their business adding that Nairobi residents should allow security chiefs to do a thorough investigation into the terror attack.
The President promised to constitute a commission of inquiry into the terrorist attack. To date, no word has been heard about the commission.
Namwamba also says that the Government has failed in winning the unconventional war against al-Shabaab. “They are fighting with threats instead of intelligence. They keep threatening that they will get the terrorist yet in effect it is the terrorists who get us,” he said.
But is this blame game healthy for the collective psyche of Kenyans?
“As things stand, the terrorists are winning. We have turned against our Somali brothers. We are blaming the Government for each and everything that goes wrong. They are winning. But we mustn’t let them,” says sociologist Ken Ouko, who is also the dean of students at Catholic University.
Ouko says life as we knew it has changed.
“People are adapting. People are no longer spending as much time as they did in malls. People are no longer having easy rides in matatus after a hard day at work,” he says.
He adds: “The most important thing is to try and maintain some levels of normal¦ but for this to happen; those in authority must act in a manner that suggests everything is under control.”
Sports: Manchester City Win Premier League Title
- Sky News
Suspected Thika Road bombers revealed to be relatives
- Standard Digital
Eastleigh Residents Moving Out in Droves
- Nairobi News
Malaysia launches manhunt for more Somali terror suspects
- The Sunday Times
Kenya, China sign Sh327b railway pact
- Standard Digital
Public transport operators enhance security to curb terror attacks
- Xinhua
Ousted Islamists block aid trucks
- Herald Scotland
Home
Email