For the umpteenth time, we say, security is paramount!

Last Wednesday, one Peter Kyalo, a casual worker in the sprawling commercial area of Eastleigh, Nairobi, woke up early as he always did, and went out in search of work.

Little did he know what was in store for him. He went about his business the whole day and perhaps he got some work to do or perhaps he didn’t. We will never know.

What we know is that around 7pm, possibly on his way back home, Kyalo passed around Joska area – near where an explosion had occurred about three weeks earlier. As he walked by, this ominous fact may or may not have been obvious to him.

Nevertheless, this casual worker and everyone in the vicinity of Joska area of Eastleigh were rudely and suddenly made aware of just how the country in general – and Eastleigh in particular – have become vulnerable to merchants of terror when an explosive went off injuring Kyalo and six other innocent Kenyans.
And yesterday again there was another blast generally within the same region of Eastleigh which killed five people and seriously injured the Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan.

Other attacks have equally occurred in Mombasa and Garissa with innocent Kenyans losing their lives.
The frequency of these blasts and the complacent nature of our reactions shows we are moving dangerously close to becoming inured to security threats.

Becoming desensitised to life-taking explosions, quickly forgetting grenade attacks on churches, or swiftly moving on to the next ‘important issue’ after dozens of citizens or police officers have been massacred in cold blood is exactly how a nation State slips into a failed State. The defining purpose of a Government – in deed the Government’s very raison d’être  – is not to maximise on tax collections, nor is it just to provide infrastructure; it is to provide and guarantee security of its citizens from internal and external threats. Period.
And on this score, our Government has been tried and found wanting time and time again.

Why does this Government appear so complacent on matters of security? Kenyans keep asking. And no one cares to provide a convincing answer.
What is the return on investment?

Why do we keep investing billions of shillings on intelligence collection when the country’s National Security Intelligence Service keeps getting caught flat-footed at every corner on matters of national security?
The Office of the President that harbours the critical Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security and under whose ambit all the civilian arms of national security organs operate is allocated billions upon billions of tax-payers hard-earned shillings year after year.

When Kenyans keep getting killed like flies through what appears like preventable and apparently amateurish terror attacks, tax-payers are justified to ask the Government: What is the return on investment that tax payers keep making on security?

We have said it before, and we will say it again: Security of Kenyans is not negotiable.

The Government owes it to us to provide us with security to the best of its abilities – and we dare add – it is not the Government that should be the judge of what “the best of these abilities” should be.

The measure of “the best of Government abilities” is the levels at which citizens’ feel secure. And right now Kenyans do not feel secure. This state of insecurity is heightened when they have to go through security checks in various establishments, including churches.

What is more, the Government compounds an already bad situation by not just appearing complacent, but even worse; not pushing the people who have been mandated with the duty of providing security for Kenyans to own up and fall on their swords when they mess up as they have been doing regularly of late.
The Wagalla Massacre alone should have seen heads roll from the Police headquarters, the National Security Intelligence Service headquarters at the Karura Forest to Harambee House.

Mr President, Kenyans are crying to you to take charge and make them feel secure again. You have all the instruments of State to make this happen.