OPINION: Security Mirage? It will be so until these loopholes are sealed

By Shisanya Majanja,  

KAKAMEGA, Kenya, Jun 28- How foolish it is to place a sentry at your gates yet have no idea of who your daughter is dating! This thought flashed through my mind just after I had been cleared to enter one of the ‘high security’ premises in Nairobi.

I had just driven up to the automatic traffic barriers of the said premises and was immediately asked to step out by a bored gum-chewing security guard.

A hand scanner was then casually passed over my sides while another guard checking my car. He gave the insides and boot a cursory check and did not bother to inspect the covered tyre port, the glove compartment or even the bonnet.

He did not even touch the carrier bag sitting on the back seat. He then slid a mirror under the car’s belly and walked around the car barely looking at the mirror. I was not in any way shocked by these breaches that are almost standard in this country.

Just as I was getting into the car to drive in, a truck bearing the colours of the government department that I was visiting drove out as the exit barrier was raised and the truck driver nonchalantly drove out.

The car was not inspected and neither was the departmental saloon car that was hooting behind me.

This officer was guarding, even if poorly, against an enemy they knew would come from outside. It would seem that the experts they employed never heard of the Trojan horse!

This sorry state of how we secure our premises and even country’s borders is replicated from county 001 to 047.

For example, every time I enter a secured space and a hand scanner is used over my bod, it has always emitted the same shrill sound whether I have a phone, pocket change, keys or not.

To me these gadgets are just a lame excuse for security checks. Only there to be seen.

Our legendary love for money compounds the security situation here as there is almost absolutely nothing the so-called professionals, we employ to guard us cannot do for money.

Our porous borders are a case in point. Walking in and out of Uganda for example one is bound to wonder who has been cleared and who has not or even who is Kenyan and who is Ugandan. A sea of people scuttle from one country to the other as if going in and out of Gikomba.

The Premier Moi Air Base in Eastleigh is surrounded by high rise buildings whose owners’ citizenship cannot be easily established. How this came to be can only be followed through to the ever-rumbling stomachs of our leaders, technocrats and pencil pushers.

We have established above that a very fertile ground for terrorist activities exists here and one only needs to look at the other ingredients awaiting detonation by a Terrorist with a destructive mission.

Let us start with legislation. Laws should be put in place to make the work of our enforcement agencies easier when dealing with terrorism suspects and special units formed with a huge budget for training and remuneration of its officers.

A way should be found to profile and identify foreigners from neighbouring countries. Before anybody screams ethnic profiling let them know that our security comes first.

The radicalization of Kenyan youth should be put under scrutiny. Security forces should create a rapport with religious leaders for the purposes of identifying rogue overseers of sections of their faith. It is at this point that creation of jobs for young men who have just completed college must be mooted.

Security may start with me but the government must up its game.