LONG TERM SOLUTION KEY TO CURBING INSECURITY

Tit- for- tat should not be looked at as the solution to our insecurity malaise.

In the wake of Garissa attack, a lot was said.Following the Mandera quarry attack, yet more was said.Before that, a lot was said following the Lamu attacks and long before that, the Westgate attack drew scathing and tough utterances.Beneath these harsh words were what seemed like assuring statements but barely assuring.

The Westgate attack was heartbreaking for lack of a better word.Never had our vulnerability and mortality been put to perspective in such brutality and cold savagery.We were exposed as a soft spot.It would never happen again, we promised ourselves and the government assured us of the death of the attackers.The Mandera bus attack brought the statement from our Deputy President that 100 Al-Shabaab militants have been killed in retaliatory attacks.After Lamu, several suspects were rounded up only to be released later.Following the Garissa attacks, we were informed of KDF bombing two Al-Shabaab bases.This should be reassuring, but is it? Should it be that we are only reactive, acting tough only after being hit? Are we supposed to feel safe when 100 al-shabaab militants are killed soon after four or five of their own lay to waste our own?

We should react first more so after issuance of travel advisories.As it has come to be, travel advisories have preceeded the recent major attacks, acting as a presage yet we choose to ignore them.Instead of dismissing these advisories  we should consider them a warning.One was issued before Garissa attacks, another during the series of Lamu attacks.That's no fluke.Sure some foreign embassies tend to overreact but we ought to take this as a warning sign, the dark clouds before our storm.Our knee-jerk reaction to terror only works against us.

Our reaction to such emergencies too is at fault.It is not reassuring that in the Garissa University attacks, some of the victims were killed as late as noon in an attack that started at dawn.And our security officers were even yet to make any foray as late as 2 pm.Fatalities will always happen in any attack but our reaction soon after receiving the news is paramount to preventing a bloodbath of the scale of Garissa, Westgate or Lamu attacks.To reach triple digits in a single attack of sporadic shooting is a travesty of our security.

However it is reassuring that we are striving to curb this menace from its roots- radicalisation and it is important that teachers of Muslim religious classes and Muslim leaders in general do more than just tell us that Muslim religion does not condone violence following an attack.It is important that whatever is taught in madrassas is monitored as the Garissa attack mastermind Mohamed Mohamud was a teacher of these classes. Many more are hidden amongst us and we should name them no matter the affiliation.

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