What war?

A billion shillings. Nice, round figure. A figure to warm the cockles of the hearts of a swashbuckling robber baron. A tidy sum. One that conjures images of fast-living and loose women. Or men; the Constitution guarantees freedom of opportunity these days. That is the number bandied about in relation with the three hundred and forty one kilogrammes of heroin seized by Kenyan security officials. And the dhow in which the heroin was smuggled into Kenya. The President will witness the "destruction" of the heroin and the sinking of the dhow. Bold moves, says the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit. We are a more sceptical species, Kenyans are, so we wonder why all we know about the billion-shilling drugs haul is that it will be destroyed and the dhow sunk?

Let's take it step by step, shall we? How did the police know where the dhow would be? The Indian Ocean is a big ass ocean and the Kenya police are not exactly known for the tech-savvy. Was it the much-maligned intelligence by the National Intelligence Service that was "timely, accurate, credible and actionable" in this case or was it an informer?

What is the provenance of the dhow on which the drugs were stowed? What is ts port of registration? Who are its registered owners and are they proxies for others? The crew of the dhow were arrested. Very little has been reported about whether they were charged in court. We do not know their names. We do not know their nationalities. We do not know from where they sailed and whether Kenya was their last port of call. We do not know if this was their first rodeo or they are seasoned smugglers. We do not know whether they have provided information that would identify the source of the heroin and its destination. We do not know how much they were paid to smuggle it into Kenya or whether they were paid up front or they were to be paid after the job was done.

Third, when the drugs were seized, who took custody of the haul? Was it the County police boss? Was it the County Commissioner? Was it the County CID boss? Was it the County GSU Commandant? How much of the drugs was taken as a sample for analysis? Where did the analysis take place? Was it done by a person capable of conducting the analysis? What were the results of the analysis? Is it heroin? Is its purity high or not?

There are rumours that the heroin was "stored" at the GSU base next to State House, Mombasa, and that the GSU were concerned about their safety the longer the drugs were kept on their base, hence the destruction. We can understand their trepidation. The last GSU officer to deal with drugs died under circumstances that have remained unexplained to date.

There are more questions than answers regarding this drugs consignment. Mr Manoah Esipisu has done little to provide answers. His PSCU has done precious little to do so either; the constant tom-tomming of a #WarOnDrugs on social media by the PSCU's directors is, quite frankly, getting on our nerves now. They spew words into the Twittersphere without saying anything of substance. And now with now missing, now not missing armoured Beemer, they are becoming the butt of cruel jokes. If there is a War on Drugs, this is not the first we are hearing of it. But a war has fighters, it has battles and and it has victories and losses. If the war was truly being fought, on how many fronts has Kenya engaged the enemy? How many of the enemy has Kenya destroyed? How much of the enemies' territories has Kenya seized? And is Kenya winning the war or losing it, one billion-shilling battle at a time?