I now understand why no other country wants to be even a mile close to radical Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal if his mere presence is enough to incite a country’s citizens to fight, maim, even kill each other and destroy property worth millions, threatening the economic livelihoods of its people. If I was a foreign ambassador residing here, I would by this time have warned my President, peers and Cabinet colleagues not to even entertain the thought of allowing Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal to transit through my home country on his way to whichever destination Kenya finds. I would send video images of the violence that rocked Nairobi’s Central Business District to demonstrate why this fellow is one of the most dangerous in the continent.
Even his own people don’t want him. His Muslim countrymen are wary of his beliefs and no longer allow him to preach to the faithful, yet some misguided brothers here eagerly gave him audience and went home thinking al-Faisal was a sane man.
Now these same misguided brothers have threatened to fight, maim and kill more innocent souls under the guise of a ‘peaceful protest march’, and we all know how these ‘demonstrations’ turn out in Nairobi, a city that has a large number of idle men. And the most the Government can do is look confused and overwhelmed in its handling of this ‘sensitive’ matter that pits its ministers against a radical preacher who strolled into Kenya through ‘a hole in the fence’, if I may borrow the words of Kiss FM presenter Caroline Mutoko.
This country always finds millions to pay for unplanned activities that often involve parliamentarians. How come it has become extremely difficult to put this persona non grata Jamaican in a Kenya Airways plane, together with a few security officers to enjoy the ride, and fly him back to his mother? I sure hope Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula does not eat his words tomorrow and that he deports al-Faisal successfully, immediately because we sure don’t want him around.
The Government’s dillydallying prompted opportunists to creep from the woodwork and use the grave situation to gain notorious fame under the banner of ‘human rights activists’. Human rights my foot! Since when did the rights of one unwanted foreigner supersede those of Kenyans? Why didn’t Al-Amin Kimathi (before his arrest), Hassan Omar Hassan and their cronies speak out on behalf of the hundreds of Kenyans who comprise Muslims, Christians, Hindus, traditionalists and others, who were inconvenienced, hurt or lost property over last Friday’s clash?
What about the police officers who were hurt in the process? Who is fighting over their rights? Or does their job description include being shot by criminal gangs? A criminal/terrorist is a criminal/terrorist regardless of his/her nationality or religious affiliation. Turning this sordid mess into a Christian versus Muslim war is not only reckless but senseless, shameless and very dangerous.
And let us not forget that the radical Sheikh al-Faisal is not the only foreigner to demonstrate just how weak our security institutions are. To the West of our borders, Uganda security forces boldly took over the administration and operations of Migingo Island long before the dispute was resolved.
Further to the North-West, Ugandan military forces are said to have shifted the beacons marking the Kenyan boundary and are claiming more of our territory as theirs. And then there is the South-Sudanese army that is threatening Turkanas and forcing them to vacate their land. The Government seems silent over this issue.
North Eastern Province is the most dangerous hotspot in the country as it holds the largest number of foreigners. The Islamic militant group Al Shabaab are reported to have threatened to take over the entire province and claim it as their own. What have we become? A softie country that is so afraid of hurting its neighbours and foreign ‘friends’-cum-‘investors’ that it would rather lie low and be stepped all over like doormats despite the fact that we have legions of army officers spread in camps around the country. What is their purpose?
Sadly, Kenya’s brand of ‘diplomacy’ is killing us. If they wanted to do so, who would stop the Italians, Germans, British and Israelites from taking over sections of the Coast and claiming it their own; or the Somalis from taking over Nairobi and North Eastern Provinces; or the Sudanese and Ethiopians from taking over parts of Rift Valley?
Government must swiftly and decisively reclaim Kenya.
