THE CRY OF A NATION.

Ever since the Kenya Defense Forces embarked on an offensive against the Al Shabaab terror group in Somali, Kenya has suffered a myriad of retaliatory attacks within her borders. It is a sheer act of cowardice on the part of the Shabaab; that they would target innocent and defenseless citizens, having fled the battle grounds in fright of the forces out to restore sanity in the war torn country. They surely should realize by now that they are fighting a losing battle. Nemesis will catch up with them sooner than they anticipated.

Victims of a recent terror attack in Nairobi.

A series of attacks on Kenya's major cities, and which are believed to be connected with the terror gang, have left in their wake a disturbing aftermath. A recent heart rending incident left at least 17 innocent worshippers dead, while scores of others were left fighting for dear lives. It was reported that unknown assailants overpowered the policemen on guard outside two churches in Kenya's border town of Garissa, shot them dead and proceeded to unleash terror on the congregants who were at the time in the midst of their Sunday services. Just the thought of this heinous act is enough to make one’s bile spurt. 

AIC church in Garissa - one of the churches affected by the latest terror attacks.

Thing is, the Shabaab menace in Kenya did not start that day. Prior to this attack, similar fate had befallen the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa. In Nairobi, the assailants had the audacity to hit the city’s central business district in broad daylight! The nerve of it! Scores were injured and one person succumbed to injuries owing to the attack. The CBD case was not an isolated one, as the city had experienced attacks at one of its major bus terminals, an attack on a long distance bound bus and in a night club. And in what is seemingly a disturbing trend, a church in one of the city estates was bombed and several innocent lives lost.

The shopping mall that was attacked in Nairobi's CBD.

In Mtwapa, a town near Mombasa, revelers at one of the night clubs fell victim of the enemy’s foul play. In the same breath, worshippers at a crusade in Mombasa were attacked and a life was lost. Shockingly, as soon as the American embassy indefinitely shut their offices in the city and issued a travel advisory to the beach town, a few weeks ago, terror stuck again in yet another night club!

Terror blast victims in Mombasa.

And this count could go on, because what we have here ladies and gentlemen is a case of citizens grappling to come to terms with the fact that danger looms too close for them to sit easy. The government is seemingly putting effort to curb these rising cases of terrorism, but it’s a question of if the effort is enough, which lingers the minds of all citizens.

It cannot be okay when the government issues resounding promises to protect its citizens from further attacks, only for the same to be followed by attacks of even greater magnitude. Sadly, no culprits have been charged over these atrocities committed on innocent civilians. An anti - terrorism bill is scheduled to be tabled in parliament for debate, in a bid that seeks to fight terrorism to the core. However, human rights activists are raising an alarm over the bill, while others claim it targets members of a particular community.

Among the basics for a state to be branded as one that is failing, is the inability to assure its citizens of security. The responsibility of which does not solely lie with the government, but also with other stakeholders. Citizens too must play their part, by blowing the whistle on people of questionable character, rather than wait till it’s too late to voice their confirmed suspicions in front of glaring media cameras. Every citizen must bear with humility the stringent routine security checks adopted to reduce the terror scare. These measures are meant to ensure our security, and not to demean or humiliate anybody, as some people are deluded to believe.

Concerted effort from all stakeholders and by this I mean even the international community, will see the world crash terrorism for good. Future generations will only read about it in history books; and about the coming of this day, just like Martin Luther King, I have a dream!!