Deal with crisis or quit, Uhuru told

Cord leader Raila Odinga Tuesday told President Kenyatta to ensure Kenyans are safe or resign following the killing of 36 people in Mandera yesterday morning.

Mr Odinga warned that Kenyans were getting impatient by “reactionary stories” coined by the government after every attack.

“If things go on this way, Kenyans will say that enough is enough and if nothing is seriously done in the next coming days then something else will happen,” the ODM party leader said.

He said that after taking the oath of office, President Kenyatta had the mandate to ensure all Kenyans are safe and urged him to step aside if he was incapable of delivering.

“I want to tell President Uhuru Kenyatta that it is his responsibility to ensure Kenyans are protected. He cannot pass the buck. Please perform your duty. If it is too heavy for you then you know the right thing to do.”

The Cord leader said there was total collapse of the country’s intelligence and security system, which, according to him, had slid from total independence to micro-managed units serving partisan and sectarian interests.

“I want to urge the President and the government to find a way of acting on these senseless killings of innocent Kenyans. The people are running out of patient and if they do not act now then something will happen,” said Mr Odinga told a press conference called by opposition leaders at Serena Hotel in Nairobi.

The opposition called for the restructuring of the national intelligence system.

Cord co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula also joined the more than 50 opposition MPs at the press conference.

They blamed the Jubilee administration for administering a weak State system and politicising serious security issues and “playing too much public relations” at the expense of actual governance.

“All that has happened in the past is politicisation of these events, when Mpeketoni happened all serious international investigatory agencies pointed to an Al-Shaabab attack. But the President told us it was a local political network. In fact, the Interior minister openly blamed ODM for the attacks,” Mr Odinga said.

He said recent claims by Deputy President William Ruto that the Kenya Defence Forces had immobilised and killed more than 100 terror suspects after the Mandera bus attack had left the country baffled.

“If it is true they killed 100 terrorists like they are claiming then how comes they regrouped so quickly within the same area?” he asked.

Mr Musyoka said it was time President Kenyatta reviewed the stay of the Kenyan forces in Somalia, warning that it was key to ending the wave of terror attacks in the country.

“These attacks are injurious to our economy which is now suffering. This is a clear show that it is indeed time to Okoa Kenya,” he said.

He said governors should have more say in the management of security in their counties as a way of eradicating crime in the country.

“It is now clear that the Jubilee Government has failed to secure the lives and properties of the people of Kenya. It cannot claim to have done so,” Mr Musyoka said.

Mr Wetang’ula, who read the opposition’s press statement, said Kenyans were getting fatigued by narrations from State officials after every attack.

COMPREHENSIVE REAPPRAISAL

“The insecurity currently engulfing the nation calls for a comprehensive reappraisal of our security apparatus in terms of its organisation, authority structure, equipment and morale of personnel and coordination,” he said.

He said Kenyans were victims of State failure and indifference coupled with the effects of corruption within the security, political, intelligence and military leadership.

The leaders called for an overhaul of the country’s intelligence system to make it more independent and effective.