{UAH} Westgate fiasco: Are we a nation of lions led by donkeys? - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Westgate-fiasco-Are-we-a-nation-of-lions-led-by-donkeys/-/434750/2029000/-/dd49e1z/-/index.html

Westgate fiasco: Are we a nation of lions led by donkeys? - Comment

There are two opposed impulses at the heart of Kenyan nationhood: One impulse, mostly displayed by ordinary Kenyans, pulls towards the great future promised by our Independence, while the other, typical of our officialdom, keeps us from achieving the promise.

In the Westgate tragedy, we observed the two impulses at play. As the terrorist siege continued, we saw security officers risk their lives to save people trapped in the mall, ordinary people carrying the injured to ambulances without regard to tribe or religion, blacks, whites and Asians escorting one another to safety, endless queues of people waiting to donate blood, and millions of shillings donated by ordinary people in aid of the bereaved and those in hospital.

At this display, every Kenyan, even those of us inclined to despair at our failed nationhood, felt a surge of national pride. We caught a glimpse of the magnificent future awaiting us.

In that moment, we forgot the shameful display of our Members of Parliament at The Hague, which confirmed the stereotype in the popular European imagination of Africans as intemperate and lacking a sense of gentility. We forgot the shrill debate in parliament, described aptly by Phillip Ochieng as "barking," that preceded the vote to pull Kenya from the ICC.

We also forgot the improbable official incompetence that keeps us poor. We even pushed the memory of the tyrannical Kanu kleptocracy to the back of our consciousness.

But within days, the sense of pride would be replaced by shame and anger, and the bright picture in our minds of a glorious future once again became discoloured by gloom and despair.

First came the news that the terrorists had been living in the country for months before the attack, probably allowed in by corrupt immigration officials.

Then our hearts sank as the suspicion grew that the terrorists had escaped through a tunnel or had simply mingled with shoppers running out of the mall. We learned that there was confusion and infighting among the multi-agency force that responded to the attack, which probably led to unnecessary loss of lives. Our jaws dropped as it became clear that police had failed to act on information given to them about the impending attack.

Then came the coup de grace to our national pride: Security officers, either during or after the siege, had looted property and money to the tune of millions from the mall. And in the midst of all this, we had to endure clueless high-ranking officials — looking ready to catch their next nap — give one contradictory statement after another about the terror attack.

We have witnessed this dual character of our nationhood at other crucial moments in our history.

At Independence, people from every ethnic group and occupation were ready to give their all to achieve the ideals for which we had fought colonialism. But the black elite that took power began to whittle away the newly won freedom. Those brave enough to remind them about the ideals for which so many had suffered and died were jailed or killed.

Again in 2003, after defeat of the Kanu police state, the lethargy, greed and tribalism of those who took over soon smothered a resurgent sense of "we can be who we are destined to be."

Uhuru Kenyatta, in a moving speech, spoke of the humbling lesson ordinary Kenyans had taught him as they aided one another regardless of cost in terms of money and limb. He declared that he was proud to be the president of a country of such fine folk who "deserve our very best."

Clearly, the acts of commission or omission by various government and security officials before, during and after the attack fall woefully below the president's standard. Therefore, if the president wants his speech to mark the beginnings of a national renaissance, those officials must not only immediately relinquish their posts, but must also be prosecuted for criminal dereliction of duty.

Anything short of that will be continuing a culture that will not only facilitate another attack, but will keep us a Third World country.

Westgate fiasco: Are we a nation of lions led by donkeys? - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

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