How the terrorists must lose after deadly attack

As the nation continues to mourn the students murdered in cold blood in their hostels at Garissa University College, we must begin to look forward and agree that such an attack shall never occur again on Kenyan soil, and that all citizens will do all in their power to ensure this is the last time we sustain so many casualties in a senseless war.

In other words, we must all resolve that with this attack, the terrorists have lost not only the battle, but also whatever war they were trying to engage us in.

As a nation, we must in future remember this attack as marking a turning point in our handling of national affairs. We must remember this as the moment when we grew up as a nation, and ended petty rivalries that continue to cost our nation heavily in human lives and other resources. We must look back at this event with sorrow, but also with pride that these young lives were not snuffed out so prematurely in vain.

In order to make this break with the past, we do not need to rope in quantum physicists or academic prodigies. Most of the causes of these terror attacks are widely known, and have recently been publicly discussed in different forums.

It is common knowledge that massive reports continue to gather dust in shelves in different government ministries, commissioned after previous tragedies that struck our nation.

What prevents implementation of these plans and strategies?

The simplest answer is that the common citizen, who is also the main target of the terrorists, does not know. The more complex answer is that multiple reasons exist. The most commonly discussed and most obvious from the citizen’s perspective is corruption. It is conceivable that implementation of a proper plan to eliminate terrorism and control crime in this country would constrict sources of income for some bigwigs in government.

It is also conceivable that these bigwigs are so big that almost nobody in government can confront them even in the wake of tragic losses as happened in Garissa.

One can only hope that they are not so big as to be completely untouchable even at the highest level of government, because if that is the case, then it is time for an exodus from this country.

We are agreed that corrupt officers let terrorists into the country or accept bribes to release them when they are arrested.

We know that a corrupt individual somewhere ensures they get access to the weapons they use in their attacks. We know that corrupt heartless souls accommodate the terrorists and hide them from prying eyes until they carry out their attacks.

Above all, we know that our security forces have a pretty good idea about all these goings-on, but something holds them back from taking pre-emptive action. At the core of it, this ‘something’ is corruption.

I am convinced that the president is not so cynical as to be involved in those corrupt networks that threaten the very existence of this republic. I am convinced of this because believing otherwise greatly threatens my sanity. Having convinced myself thus, I am looking forward to drastic action against the corrupt networks behind these attacks, because the president swore to protect us from miscreants such as these.

The alternative is bedlam.

Prof Lukoye Atwoli is an associate professor of Psychiatry and Dean, Moi University School of Medicine [email protected]