GOVERNMENT MUST UNCOVER AND SEQUESTER MORE ARMS CACHE.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Ever since the arrest and arraignment of a number of Kenyan security personnel and a couple in connection with the discovery of huge amounts of arms and ammunition, a good deal of controversy has centered on this potentially explosive incident. A number of analysts hold forth that there is existence of vast and dangerous organization(s) with vast resources connected with the trading in arms within and without the country. It is understood that some of the said callous profiteers are in Government. It appears that top security operatives are complacent and would thus deliberately create security lapses with a view to ensuring a safe transit of such huge cache of arms.

Others believe that the Government could be supplying arms and ammunition to countries such as Somalia to aid them in vanquishing the dreaded Al Qaida backed AL Shabab. The fact that Kenya is a neutral state and a signatory to the United Nations convention on the proliferation of arms makes it difficult for Kenya to supply such arms to a country like Somalia and still preserve its neutral status. As a neutral state, the country`s agencies and officers must not directly or indirectly participate in commercial or financial aid of war in any country. That is why the likes of the Narok business man become a perfect smokescreen for the Government in the event that the deal goes awry. It is easy for the Government to think that it can engage in such action without sucking itself into the Somali furnace. However, the truth is that with our porous boarders, we may not have the capacity to contain the AL Shabab`s blitzkrieg. The Somali crisis needs a global approach and not a disjointed effort such as ours.
The above two situations could explain why despite the fact that the trend has continued unabated as is alleged, the police and the country`s intelligentsia are ostensibly unable to uncover or sequester such large amounts of arms and ammunition.

It is perhaps the third and final school of thought that is more worrisome especially for a country like Kenya that is just smarting from the numbing effects of the infamous 2007 Post Election Violence (PEV). Proponents of this school of thought opine that there is a twofold reason for stockpiling by a section of the Kenyan populace. First is to arm themselves and thwart any attempts by the ICC against indicting the financiers of the 2007 PEV who are perceived to be the defenders of the interests of the said community or communities in question. Secondly, it is in readiness to the 2012 elections. According to these analysts, some politicians are willing to go this far on a road to a civil war in order to achieve their selfish political ambitions and are hell-bent on financing the stockpiling exercise. Simply put, bullets would achieve what the ballot cannot. The seizure is therefore a belt away credence of the intensive rearmament exercise in readiness for either the 2012 elections and or the possible indictment of their “own” by the ICC. It is not lost to all that barely a month ago, senior security agents and a section of politicians rebuffed Ken Wafula, a North Rift Human Rights activist, for peddling irrationalities about an arms build up by communities in sections of the country.

If indeed this school of thought bears some semblance of truth, and if it is in any way connected with the seizure of the arms cache, then it has undoubtedly exposed the sham of the Government`s blatant talk about disarmament, peace and reconciliation in a country that is just smarting from a tumultuous electioneering period then the latest seizure is a more adverse sign of what the future portends for this country. Talking of peace without touching on its obstacle is balderdash.

There is a growing feeling among the public that if the Government initiates a dragnet search, more hide outs and arms cache would be found. The Government must rise to the occasion and carry out a real and effective disarmament and prevent further stockpiling.

TOME FRANCIS,
BUMULA CONSTITUENCY.
http://twitter.com/tomefrancis