On June 27th June 2023, oneZakariya Kamal Sufi Abashiekh was charged with buying the military equipment on behalf of the Al Shabaab in China and shipping them in three containers to Mogadishu was released on Ksh.1million bond after spending over one month behind bars in police custody investigators probed his role in the shipment of military equipment to Somalia.
The case then before Senior Shanzu Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda, had Zakaria face several charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act including belonging to a terrorist group and providing property for the commission of terrorist acts.
Zakariya was arrested in April same year at the Mama Ngina Water Front on suspicion that he had purchased and shipped military equipment and explosives to Somalia for the Al Shabaab terrorist group.
In an affidavit sworn by the investigating officer, Corporal Gideon Wambua, Zakariya was accused of buying an assortment of equipment that he shipped to Mogadishu. The shipment was said to have originated from China where hespent his schooling years. Three containers were shipped to Mogadishu and one of them was intercepted at the port of entry disguised as normal goods.
A closer inspection of the shipment however revealed an assortment of military equipment including5 high spec drones capable of carrying 10 litres of liquid at a height of 500 metres above sea level, rifle scopes, material rolls for making military uniforms, 3000 metres of canvas for making tents, portable and foldable solar panes, military-grade walkie talkies and camouflage suits.
The shipment also contained 18 pieces each of night vision goggles voice recording pens, spy watches, spy glasses, swimming goggles,20 flashlights and batteries and military-grade helmets.
Between April-May there is evidence investigators receivedthat he was offering logistical support to Al Shabaab in Somalia. Information gathered from his mobile phone and his confession to a multi-agency team revealed that he had sent container number MSMU826114145G1 to a shipping company bound for Somalia.
This is the same container that Somali authorities intercepted and found the military gear.
So, this man Zakaria is about to supply Kenyan government with drones in a tender that he has won – AE-MOTI-281723-GO-RFB.
Considering his track record, what baffles me like any other sound mind being is how he has won the tender, whose puppet is he in Government, how he convinced the authority. How powerful is this man in/with the Chinese government?
The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has on Friday November 5, 2021 revealed that terrorist group, Alshabaab, has umpteenth times threatened their family and him in person.
It is worth noting that the DPP is the son of the late Garissa senator Yusuf Haji, who also served as the Minister for Defence in the Grand Coalition government.
He is also the brother to Garissa county senator Abdulkadir Haji, who took over the senate seat after the demise of their father.
Haji stated that the terrorist group threatened them in 2013 after the Westgate attack and has continued to threaten their family to date.
The DPP, who was speaking during an interview with a local radio station, stated that intelligence reports released in the aftermath of the infamous terror attack, indicated that his father and himself were targets of the Alshabaab group.
“If you look at the intelligence reports that were released in 2013 during the Westgate attack, me and my family were actually targets of Alshabaab. Alshabaab continues to say that they will deal with us as a family and as an individual for the work that we did,” he said.
Haji also added that certain individuals, who have disagreed with the manner he has handled certain cases filed against them, have also threatened him.
The DPP maintained that he however remains unbowed by the threats and that he will continue delivering on his mandate as the government’s lead prosecutor.
“I have been threatened even during this job, by individuals who thought that my decision, either to charge or not to charge, was not favourable. This is part of the work and when I took this job I knew that when this will be part of the territory. I knew that if I was to ensure or try and stick to the Constitution those threats would escalate. I am ready for that,” he added.
Operation Linda Nchi launched in October 2011 with Kenya setting its military boots in Somalia to combat and wipe out Al-Shabaab, a terror group which kidnapped several tourists within the Kenyan borders bringing one of the country’s top foreign exchange earner (Tourism) to its knees.
As the operation progressed, Kenya pushed Al Shabaab militants away from its borders taking over Kismayu; a Somalia town whose ports Al-Shabaab used to generate revenue to funds its operations across East Africa.
Kenya seemed to have weakened the terror group, but its celebrations were short-lived when Al Shabaab changed its style from conventional warfare to asymmetric; hit and run tactic through its cells. Al Shabaab launched several attacks within the Kenyan borders, and Westgate siege was the worst just months into Kenyatta’s administration.
The attack saw 67 people losing their lives and property worth millions destroyed. The government only blew hot air which never spared the country more attacks. The Minister of Interior then, Joseph Ole Lenku’s inability to man the docket was in broad public glare and so was the lack of coordination between the police and the military handle the rescue operation.
Ignored Intelligence
With the hot air having been blown for a few days, the nation forgot and heads were again buried in deep sands then came the Mpeketoni attack. The assailants attack the coastal town for hours setting two hotels on fire and killing dozens of innocent Kenyans.
The strategy to deal the camouflaging terror group still seems unchanged even when the enemy had set foot within our borders again and torching villages. Rumours of ignored intelligence have never missed after any attack.
Garissa University attack came days after Britain, the United States and Australia warned their citizens of visiting Garissa and Mombasa among other areas for fear of terror attacks.
The government came out strong to tell off the west on the travel advisories. “…..I have not heard British issue travel warnings against other European capitals. We want to send a strong message that they will not intimidate us with these threats” President Kenyatta said.
The Al Shabaab militants in Somalia
Foreign embassies had known that attack was imminent, but these advisories were ignored because Kenya loosely thought that Britain was hitting back because of the stalemate with the British training programme.
British foreign secretary Phillip Hammond criticised Kenya for sitting on intelligence information making it hard to review the warnings. It’s the duty of the government to protect its people and property, continuous and similar attacks claiming lives have no place but dangerous security strategy that would checkmate the enemy.
Al Shabaab has now resorted to attacking the countries security forces. The worst being the January 15 attack in Kenya’s defence camp in El Ade, Somalia. The attack that saw over a hundred soldiers killed and several captured was also blamed on ignored intelligence.
Kenya is becoming a place where things happen, and people move on. The recent attack on five police officers by Al Shabaab in El Wak, Mandera County as they escort a bus is a clear indication that the strategy to deal with Al-Shabaab is failing.
Kenya is fighting a war whose end is not known but what is ailing its counter-terrorism strategy is known. Ignorance of intelligence reports has seen even the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on the back foot, corruption, majorly in police and immigration departments and weak anti-terror strategy despite having a competent force.
Corruption
Police are one the most corrupt institutions in Kenya and some of its senior officers have been suspected of rocking the anti-terror boat from within. The military incursion whose aim was to create some buffer state to keep Somalia’s instability away from Kenya has achieved the opposite. No buffer state has been established through Jubaland bringing Somali chaos closer to home. The militant group in their propaganda videos have often reinstated that penetrating into Kenyan borders are the easiest since the poorly paid security officers quickly take up bribes, this allows them to roam freely.
In the case of Mpeketoni, the killers were said to have penetrated through from Somalia passing untouched despite the numerous police blockages, reports of bribery to facilitate the movement was reported. Ignoring intelligence is the greatest failure that is costing the country. Evidently, theres a poor coorporation between the Nation Intelligence Service and law enforcement officers or pure broadcast of incompetence.
Talking openly and critising the loopholes in the security system is quickly silenced with muzzling arrest of those who are brave enough to speak up. For how long as a country will we be silent while the problems we’re facing can be prevented by pushing for the security organs to tighten the noose and be more competent? Will this article be the ignition of an arrest warrant on the writer? All said, Kenya need to be more secure, the law enforcers need not to perish but the enemies.
