News:

The fallout from the Westgate Mall attack has been immense with some situations bordering on the comical. Straight from the intelligence briefings before the attack to the actual handling of the siege, it has been a case of pure incompetence by a so-called efficient security apparatus in cahoots with the political mandarins that run it. As reported by the Nation Newspaper of 28^th September 2013, counter-terrorism reports seen by it indicate Cabinet Secretaries Julius Rotich (Treasury), Joseph ole Lenku (Interior), Amina Mohammed (Foreign Affairs), Raychelle Omamo (Defence) and KDF boss General Julius Karangi were alerted on the impending attacks. The report said terrorists planned to storm a building with guns and grenades and "probably hold hostages". "Briefs were made to them informing them of increasing threat of terrorism and of plans to launch simultaneous attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa around September 13 and 20, 2013," the report says. Surprisingly, no action was taken to avert the attacks!

Comment:

On the issue of handling the attack, a senior GSU officer who was commanding the elite Recce squad was fatally shot by what is said to be friendly fire by the military, at a time when police had taken control of 70 per cent of the mall and pushed the attackers to one corner. No one is willing to explain why the military was called in to handle a matter that was nearly being brought under control by the police.

There seems to have also been a complete breakdown in communication based on contradictions in official accounts of the four-day siege on the Westgate Mall. A classic example was who started the fire that caused plumes of thick black smoke that billowed from the building on Monday? Initially, authorities claimed security forces had done it as a tactic but they later blamed it on the attackers. At some point, senior government officials and security operatives contradicted each other in the open and then made belated alterations under the guise of ‘official information'. As President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday evening addressed the nation, his message was that 67 people, including six soldiers, had been killed as a result of the attack. He noted that five attackers had also been killed and 11 of them captured. According to the earlier figures, the number of those arrested was 16. It became difficult to verify the truth of the statements being released after the military drove away journalists covering the attack.

Claims that security forces had rescued people on Monday and Tuesday morning could not be verified after the government failed to release the figures. The media, which had camped only 300m from the gate, did not see any hostage being rescued as the number of those held by attackers remained unclear. On Sunday, the government had estimated the number of hostages to be 30, including children, but the public was not given the actual figures as the rescue mission purportedly continued. Only ambulances and military pick-ups could be seen driving up to the entrance doors before speeding off, raising anxiety that they were ferrying dead bodies. Instead, Mr. Lenku talked of an "insignificant number" of bodies - an outrageous remark considering that people had died!

As is usual with all security operations, the government admitted on Sunday that there had been looting during the rescue operation after an outcry by businessmen at the Mall. It said three businesses had reported break-ins which is an understatement given the condition of business in the ruined mall. Between Saturday, September 21^st, when the last of the police and photographers were bundled out and when shop owners returned, businesses appear to have been systematically ransacked and looted including Banks and Forex bureaus which had their doors shot up and broken into.

This is a classic case of a corrupt Capitalist system which cunningly fails to address problems facing its citizens and can go to any lengths to sacrifice them to achieve its devious goals. From the above mishandling of the security threat, it clearly shows the incapability and lack of ideas by the government in terms of looking after the affairs of its citizens. It is only the Khilafah "Caliphate" state that can seriously deal with such threats as the Islamic state is answerable to its citizens for all its actions and the leaders fear the harsh accounting awaiting them on the Day of Judgment by their Lord.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Kasim Agesa

Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in East Africa