There is something odd in running Kenya's defence and foreign policy in the media and in the hallowed halls of the National Assembly. When, as Minister for Defence, or Internal Security or Foreign Affairs, you are being cashiered by men and women with incomplete information based on some atrocities committed against citizens, it is proof positive that you have failed. It is remarkable that the Kenyan response to citizens getting slaughtered by foreign militias was a protest note and a fact-finding mission by a group of Nairobi-based security officials. It is even more remarkable that two years since Migingo Island was grabbed by the Government of Uganda, Kenya has allowed the same government to lay claim to another island, Ugingo.
According to that website that released thousands of American diplomatic cables, President Kibaki allowed the Ugandans to lay claim to Migingo in order to humiliate the Prime Minister, seeing that the island lies in what is Mr Odinga's back-yard, Luo Nyanza. Is the same rationale behind the lack of response to Uganda's land grab in Ugingo Island? Is it the same rationale behind the fact that the Government has not responded muscularly to the continued murder and mayhem in Kenya's arid Northern Frontier? Prof George Saitoti's continued claims that Kenya's territorial integrity will be safeguarded against all comers is beginning to wear thin and MPs Ekwe Ethuro and John Munyes are right in thinking that perhaps the Government of Kenya considers their constituents to be second class citizens, unsuited to the robust protection by the almighty state.
It is quite possible that the Government of Kenya has a long-term strategy to defend its borders. After all, other than Omar el Bashir's army, Kenya has one of the most professional and disciplined armed forces in the region. Its General Service Unit and the Kenya Army's Recce Units have no equal in the region. Their deployment to the porous borders with Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia should be a matter of course.
Dr Ekuru Aukot, the former Executive Director of the Committee of Experts, is right to scoff at the promises of the government that the perpetrators of the massacres in Turkana will be caught and brought to justice. We have seen this movie before and the punch-line is the same as it ever has been. The obsession by the Party of National Unity with the outcome of the 2012 presidential elections is robbing this nation of opportunities for development, peace and stability. Rumours are now circulating that the $1 billion required for the upgrading of the oil refinery in Changamwe and the creation of a strategic oil reserve is nothing but a strategy to raise campaign funds for the 2012 elections, with the aim of preventing Raila Odinga from becoming the fourth president of the Republic. If this is true, then it paints a poor picture of the PNU: they would rather burn down the house to kill a rat than find a better mouse-trap.
When the United States suffered the worst terrorist incident in 2001, they responded by waging war on their enemies, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The merits of the wars and the Global War on Terror will be up for debate for a long time to come, but a message had been sent: attack us and there is nothing we will not do to get you. Osama Bin Laden learnt that lesson when he was killed by American special forces some time last week. What is Kenya willing to do to persuade its neighbours that it is not a soft touch? It is time we got off the fence and supported a robust response to the constant aggravations of our neighbours and while we are at it, we should also let the politics end at the nation's borders. Whatever the fight may be between ODM and PNU, it cannot be played out at the expense of national security or the lives of Kenyans.
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