News : Mobile phone executives record statements with police Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore was on Tuesday at the CID headquarters writing a statement. Collymore has been summoned over allegations of unregistered sim cards still in use for communications within the network. On Monday, Orange's Mickael Ghossein was at Kilimani police station over the same. It's not clear where the CEO's of Airtel and YU are, but many suspect they could be writing theirs at Industrial Area police station. CCK has insisted that the CEOs of mobile service providers remain personally liable for the use of unregistered sim cards in their networks. The heat on the four is suspected to be emanating from allegations that the terrorists who attacked Westgate were using unregistered sim cards to communicate with their accomplices inside and outside the country.

News : Mobile phone executives record statements with police Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore was on Tuesday at the CID headquarters writing a statement. Collymore has been summoned over allegations of unregistered sim cards still in use for communications within the network. On Monday, Orange's Mickael Ghossein was at Kilimani police station over the same. It's not clear where the CEO's of Airtel and YU are, but many suspect they could be writing theirs at Industrial Area police station. CCK has insisted that the CEOs of mobile service providers remain personally liable for the use of unregistered sim cards in their networks. The heat on the four is suspected to be emanating from allegations that the terrorists who attacked Westgate were using unregistered sim cards to communicate with their accomplices inside and outside the country.

Kenya’s mentalist, Ryan, who tells colours of objects, reads text successfully when blindfolded

When Jacklyn Oyuchi took her son Ryan, to Peak Performance International, a transformational institution aimed at aiding its clients realising their God given potential, little did she know her son would unearth a hidden ability.
After two days of training in mid brain activation, daily blindfold exercise, brain gym exercise and photographic memory training, Ryan was able to marvellously tell apart colours of objects and read text successfully when blindfolded.
Speaking to Generation Next, in their Lang’ata home, Jacklyn told of how Ryan suffered from a bad case of cold feet that robbed him of the courage to face crowds.
This is what led to her decision to enrol him at the institution.
This writer expressed her doubt and requested a practical demonstration.Â
Her request was granted with pegs of different colours assembled on a table.
Ryan was then instructed him to sort them by their colour while blindfolded and in amazing ability managed easily.
We asked how he did it, the seven-year-old, termed by his mother as a keen child with a sharp memory and superb concentration ability, attributed it to brainpower“ Your brain helps you to know the colours of objects .
 when your eyes are closed,” Ryan said.
From scientist’s point of view, the human brain utilises only less than 10 per cent of its brain capacity. The human brains consist of the left and right brain and if all are in equilibrium, the brain will function optimally.
To achieve this, however, the human brains must be stimulated from an early age because the brain cells are very active from the age 0-12 years, are averagely active at 13-20 years before they begin aging when one clocks 20 years.
Mid brain activation is a method of helping children to own their powerful whole brain ability.
It stimulates the balance condition between the left and right brain, a scenario, which enables the children to have ability to do things with their eyes closed.

Hans Berger, a nerve scientist from Germany, said after the mid brain had been activated, the child would be able to sense the objects blindfolded through intuition and could successfully enter the genius condition.
Ryan, the only one who managed this amazing ability from the training, wants to be a ship captain arguing that there is no traffic congestion in the sea like on roads.
The  environment is also serene he quips.

hite Widow Samantha Lewthwaite: Net closing in as hit squads hunt down 'world's most wanted terrorists'

The net is closing in on the White Widow as elite international hit squads step up the hunt for “the world’s most wanted terrorists”.


Security ­agencies have a dozen extremists in their sights and British fugitive Samantha Lewthwaite is believed to be “high on the list”.
Two senior terror chiefs were the first targets in special forces raids in Africa on Saturday. One operation succeeded and the other failed.
The top-secret mission was given the go-ahead after last month’s terror attack in a Nairobi shopping centre which left at least 67 people dead, including six Britons.
Mum-of-four Lewthwaite, 29, is linked with the gun massacre.
A security source said: “This is a major turning point in the global war on terror.
“International security ­agencies are pooling resources like never before; this is undeniably the biggest intelligence operation for more than a decade.
“The hunt for the world’s most wanted terrorists is on.”
In Saturday’s first raid, al-Qaeda’s Anas al-Liby, 49, was seized by US special forces – backed by British ­intelligence – in Libyan capital Tripoli.

Al-Liby has been on the FBI’s most wanted list for more than a decade with a £3million bounty on his head.
He was suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the 1998 US embassy attacks, which killed more than 220 people in Kenya and Tanzania.

MI6 agents are also understood to have helped US forces in a pre-dawn raid in the Somali town of Barawe.
Navy Seal Team Six, which killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011, was ordered to “take out” Ahmed Abdi Godane.
 

He is the leader of al-Shabaab – the terror cell behind the Nairobi attack.
But while al-Liby is in custody, the Somali ­operation was abandoned after the Seal team came under heavy fire from fighters.
British spooks at GCHQ helped pinpoint the whereabouts of the terrorists following analysis of radio communications picked up in the region.
It is also understood a Royal Navy submarine in the area was on standby to fire missiles if the raid went wrong.
Despite US helicopters being called in to assist in the fight, the group was forced to abort its mission.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab claimed foreign forces had landed on the beach and launched an assault.
He said militants retaliated with guns and grenades.

Police said seven people were killed. Sources claim two al-Shabaab militants from Sudan and Sweden were among them.
The Sudanese man was named locally as Awab al-Uqba – a trainer for al-Shabaab’s intelligence unit, Amniyat.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said al-Liby was “lawfully detained under the law of war” with the Libyan government’s full knowledge.
However, Libya called the operation a “kidnapping” and has requested an explanation from Washington.
In further developments, security sources have confirmed “offers are being put on the table” to known militants across Africa and the Middle East in return for “information leading to Lewthwaite’s capture”.

Al-Shabaab claimed Lewthwaite – widow of 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay – was involved in the massacre at the Westgate shopping mall.
MI6, the CIA and Israeli security service Mossad – have since been working “round the clock” to find her .
Lewthwaite, of Aylesbury, Bucks, has been on the run for 20 months after being charged in 2011 with plotting to blow up Kenyan beach resorts with another Briton, Jermaine Grant.
Now her boss Godane has escaped capture it is feared al-Shabaab could bring forward plans for another terror attack in retaliation.
The bearded militant has a £5million bounty on his head.

A senior security source said: “The timing of the raids following the Westgate terror should send a very strong message that this is a significant moment in the war on terror."These missions would not have taken place without the most detailed consideration, factoring in all of the outcomes.

“However, the failure to capture the target will be concern to both the US and the world while acting as an important propaganda tool for al-Shabaab.
“A known terrorist is once again on the loose and the fear will be that plans of an attack could be brought forward.”
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Lewthwaite was planning to murder “disbelievers” at least two years ago.
diary found by Kenyan police in a raid at a house she rented in Mombasa also revealed she was grooming her eldest children to follow in their suicide bomber dad Lindsay’s footsteps.
Abdullah, nine, and Ruqayyah, eight, have the Arabic middle names Shaheed and Shahidah – the male and female forms of the word martyr.

Man allows doctors to kill him after his sex-change surgery goes wrong

44 year old Belgian transsexual Nathan Verhelst chose to die yesterday by euthanasia after a botched sex change operation to complete his transformation from a woman into a man left him a 'monster'.
He allowed doctors to inject him with a lethal injection which killed him, on the grounds of
'unbearable psychological suffering'.
Born a girl named Nancy, his transformation into a man began with hormone therapy in 2009, followed by a mastectomy and finally an operation to construct a penis last year.
But the procedures did not go according to plan.
In the hours before his death he told Belgium's Het Laatse Nieuws:
I was the girl that nobody wanted. While my brothers were celebrated, I got a storage room above the garage as a bedroom.
'If only you had been a boy', my mother complained.
I was tolerated, nothing more.
'I was ready to celebrate my new birth (as a man). But when I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster.'
His family learned of his decision this morning via a farewell letter.
Euthanasia carried out by doctors at the request of a patient is only legal in three European countries, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Even with all your faults, God loves you. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us," Ephesians 2:4

Today, speak to your Heavenly Father through prayer. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalms 91:1

Police officer resorts to witchcraft after ‘losing gun to stranger’

KENYA: A senior police officer in Nyandarua County has lost his gun in unclear circumstances. The officer from Kipipiri Police Station lost the gun from his house after allegedly hosting a guest overnight
Panic gripped the sleepy trading centre over the weekend as police officers embarked on a fruitless search for the missing gun.
After the search, the officer resorted to using a witchdoctor to trace the missing pistol.
Locals were left in awe as the witchdoctor from a neighbouring country conducted his rituals, but these were just as unproductive.
A resident, identified as Amos, said the officer had a female guest and it is not clear how the gun went missing. The witness said the officer’s colleagues assisted in the search but in vain.
“We were shocked when the officer decided to seek the help of a witchdoctor but this also did not work,” he said.
Another officer, who declined to be named, said investigations were going on to trace the woman in question, and called on residents to help in the search.
.

Man storms church armed, attacks pastor over claims of affair with wife

A congregation at a Kuresoi church in NAKURU  had to scamper for safety after a resident, armed with a
panga, stormed a church service demanding to have a word with his wife.
And because the church was full to capacity, the 71-year-old Gabriel Langat’s eyes could not spot his wife, 49. He turned to the presiding pastor and told him to produce her or he will slash him.
Lang’at, accusing the pastor of having a secret affair with his wife ,said it was time to discipline both of them in front of their members. “I want to see my wife here and now or I will kill all of you right away,” shouted the man as he headed to the altar where the pastor was delivering the sermon.
Endless crusades
The man then went ahead  and slashed the 31-year-old pastor on the shoulder as faithful scampered for safety.
“It was a horrible scene and every body was scared. The man was demanded to know why the pastor was having crusade prayers every weekend that ran deep into the night,” said Wilson Kiprono, a member of the church.
Kuresoi area police boss David Wambua said officers who were called in managed to disarm the old man and apprehended him waiting to be arraigned in court Meanwhile the pastor was rushed to Olenguruone

 District hospital where he received treatment and discharged. The OCPD said investigations revealed that the couple had differences after the wife abandoned the church they were attending with the rest of the family to join the current church without informing the husband.
Others injured
“The suspect also told us he suspected his wife had a secret love affair with the pastor, something we are also investigating but from the wife we have established that the husband had warned her not to set foot in that church,”said Wambua.
Other worshipers sustained minor injuries inflicted on them by broken chairs and iron sheets while fleeing the scene for their dear lives.

Man kills daughter, self over HIV status

A trader killed his four-year-old girl in Migori County before hanging himself upon realising that he was HIV positive.

The man strangled the girl to death before hanging himself inside their house in Ragana estate, in the outskirts of Migori Town.

Police said the man was working in Mwanza Town in Tanzania and had buried his wife last month.

“Perhaps he thought nobody would take care of his daughter if he succumbed to HIV and Aids,” police said.

Neighbours who rushed to the scene found the girl’s body lying in the bed while the man was hanging on a rope in the sitting room.

The bodies were moved to a local hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem

Train hits couple having sex on its tracks,leaving the woman dead

A thrill-seeking Ukrainian couple met a tragic end after they stopped on their way home to have sex on a train tracks and were hit by a train.
According to Ukrainian Interior Ministry, which announced the Saturday morning accident,  the couple 'wanted to experience an extreme sensation near the railroad tracks.
They were returning home from a party at a friend's house when they decided to stop on the tracks.  Reports say they were drunk at the time, so they failed to overcome their natural passion when walking home.'
Unfortunately, the '30-something' woman was killed by the train while her 41-year-old male companion lost both legs, but survived to tell the story.

Mike Sonko was having SEX with RACHAEL SHEBESH when he attacked her

Details have emerged that Nairobi senator Mike Sonko and Women Rep Rachael Shebesh were having sex at the prestigious Crowne hotel located in Upperhill when the senator slapped her.
According to a reliable source,the two leaders are said to be regular visitors at the expensive and high class hotel.
On Thursday night, the two booked a room located in the 5th floor of the hotel. They drank beer together locked up in their furnished rooms. But situation got worse when they two were too drunk to handle their senses. According to one of the workers at the hotel, she heard Shebesh tell Sonko how weak he is in bed as he hadn’t satisfied her sexual thirst.
This provoked the high tempered Nairobi senator and he slapped Shebesh who wailed attracting  the attention of revellers at the hotel.
By then, the two leaders had dismissed their bodyguards who were waiting for them to finish their sexual escapades.
It seems there is more than meets the eye since our reliable sources tell us that the two leaders always visit the hotel on Thursdays and Fridays where they even have sex till wee hours of the morning.

Women Shouldn't Drive Because It Damages Their Ovaries & Pelvis, Warns Saudi Sheikh

A Saudi sheikh has warned women that driving could affect their ovaries and pelvises.

According to the sheikh, Sheikh Salah al-Luhaydan, women's health is at risk if they get behind the wheel. He told a Saudi news website sabq.org:

'[Driving] could have a reverse physiological impact. Physiological science and functional medicine studied this side [and found] that it automatically affects ovaries and rolls up the pelvis.
This is why we find for women who continuously drive cars their children are born with clinical disorders of varying degrees.'

His comments come two years after a ‘scientific’ report from Saudi Arabia claimed that letting women drive would also see more Saudis - both men and women - turn to homosexuality and pornography.

You know women in Saudi Arabia are currently banned from driving in Saudi Arabia though hundreds of them have protested against the law - with several facing severe punishment after they got behind the wheel.

The report warned that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’ in Saudi Arabia.
That within ten years if they lift the ban on women driving, the report’s authors claimed, there would be ‘no more virgins’ in the Islamic kingdom.
Pointing out that ‘moral decline’ could already be seen in other Muslim countries where women are allowed to drive.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.

Church pianist elopes with pastor's daughter

Members of a church in Kagumo town, Kirinyaga County are still in shock after the church pianist took off with the pastor’s daughter.
Until their unceremonious escape, the two headed the church’s praise and worship team and had been cited the most powerful musical combination that the church has ever witnessed
The combination was termed the most dependable spiritual team because the girl’s sharp voice synchronised well with the captivating beat composed by the pianist‘s intriguing fingers of steel.
AUTHORITATIVE
Most of the congregants believed that the girl would most likely become an authoritative female preacher, like her father who melted the hearts of the spiritually disturbed souls with fiery sermons every Sunday.
The pianist on the other hand had allegedly inherited his musical skills from his dad, who in his youthful days used to ‘pinch’ the bass guitar for a certain band in Embu. A member of the faithful who spoke to this writer even claimed that there were plans for the   two to be taken to a music studio in Nairobi to record a gospel album!
But before that could be done, the two realised that they had a lot more in common, and decided to take their engagements a step above spiritual issues.
“I always suspected that there was something. I saw her several times staring at him from the church dais during the praise session, as the rest of the congregation danced,” said a resident who spoke to this writer.

SPRITUALLY CHARGED
It is alleged that the two took off, within the course of a kesha organised by the church, after leading the most spiritually charged praise and worship segment ever witnessed in the church.
“Dust rose in the air, as everybody shook to the captivating music. In fact, seats had been pushed to one corner of the church to create space for the congregation to dance to the Lord,” recounted one church member.
After the thrilling musical segment, the pastor was invited to serve the congregation with the ‘loaf of life’, which as always, he did with enough vigour to frighten Lucifer out of the darkest cave. But as he professed good things to the  the night assembly, his daughter and the instrumentalist were contemplating love, their hearts thudding.
The pianist first walked out, ostensibly to relieve himself, and was followed minutes later by the pastor’s daughter who was wiping sweat from her face with a handkerchief after the thrilling praise session. Their exit never raised eyebrows.

After each church member had partaken of the loaf served by the exceptional man of God, it was the turn of the praise team to shake the ground once more in a bid to awaken those who were falling asleep due to fatigue and the biting cold. They stood and flexed their bodies in readiness to momentarily convert the church hall into a dance floor once more.
But the praise session could not take off because the dependable instrumentalist was nowhere in sight.
The drummer was called to action, (there was nobody else in the congregation to handle the electronic gadget), but curiously the magical voice to accompany the drumbeat was missing.

Pregnant' two-year-old boy gives 'birth' after he has parasitic twin removed from inside his stomach

A two-year-old boy from Huaxi, has undergone an operation to give 'birth' after doctors diagnosed him as 'pregnant'  
According to Daily Mail, Xiao Feng was brought to hospital after his stomach had become so distended that he had begun to suffer breathing difficulties.
Once admitted, doctors took x-rays and MRI scans and discovered that Feng was carrying the undeveloped foteus of his own twin inside his stomach and they rushed him to surgery.
The removed foetus measured 20 cm in width and had a fully formed spine and limbs, including fingers and toes.
The parasitic twin would have developed into a boy and had grown so large that almost 2/3rds of his affected twin's stomach was taken up.
Identical twins form when an egg splits in half after fertilization.
But conjoined twins or foetus-in-foetu siblings occur when the egg fails to fully separate.
Dr Jonathan Fanaroff, a neonatologist at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, said some conjoined twins can survive as 'parasites', but not when one twin absorbs the other.

Hard questions emerge over handling of terror attack

Did the masterminds of the Westgate terror escape within an hour of launching the attack? Could the terrorists who remained behind to continue the senseless killing and repulse security forces also slip away unnoticed?

And what is the fate of the hostages thought to have been held in the siege? What about the destruction of the mall, did the military bomb it? And who looted the shops?

These are some of the hard questions that Kenyans are seeking answers to as sources reveal new accounts that have not been formally released by the government, further intensifying the mystery that surrounds the four-day siege.

Multiple sources, including some police officers who made the initial response to the distress call, confirmed that the first group of terrorists may have escaped within an hour into the attack.

Some are said to have changed their clothes, dropped their weapons, and ran out alongside terrified civilians. The government has repeatedly denied that any of the attackers escaped despite eyewitness accounts and confirmation by police officers, who spoke to the Sunday Nation in confidence.

REMAIN UNACCOUNTED FOR

The terrorists believed to have been left behind also remain unaccounted for — days after the siege ended. This brings to question the exact number of those involved in the deadly assault.

On Monday, as the military launched what was described as the “final assault” to take back the mall, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku said there were between 10 and 15 terrorists inside holding at least 30 hostages. More than 1,000 people were said to have been evacuated.

Later, Mr Lenku announced that five terrorists were killed after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) took over the building on Tuesday. However, he remained tight-lipped on the whereabouts of the bodies and the identity of the terrorists. Also unclear is the fate of the remaining terrorists, who should be at least 10 based on the figures provided.

“Five suspected terrorists were killed during the operation and the ongoing forensic investigations will ascertain their identities. When complete, these investigations will answer the questions being raised about their nationalities and gender,” said Mr Lenku.

The government is also yet to release details of a suspected terrorist, who reportedly died in hospital from bullet wounds last Saturday, a few hours after the attack began.

Fresh details about how the remaining terrorists could have escaped further deepen the mystery. Security officials who spoke to the Sunday Nation suspect the al-Shabaab killer gang that repulsed an elite military squad may have escaped through an underground tunnel that connects the mall and an adjacent building — about 100 metres away.

“The tunnel is big enough for an adult to walk through comfortably,” said our source, who declined to be named for his own safety.

The identity of the attackers also remains a grey area with conflicting reports about the involvement of a woman.

Mr Lenku initially denied a woman was part of the attackers, but he later admitted the possibility of British fugitive Samantha Lewthwaite, nicknamed the “White Widow” or “Dada Mzungu” (White Sister), leading the attack, after his Foreign Affairs counterpart Amina Mohammed made the claims in an interview with a US TV station.

Interpol has now issued a “red alert” notice for the capture of the “White Widow” at the request of the Kenyan authorities. The woman is, however, not seen in the CCTV footage of the attack viewed by the Sunday Nation. But some eyewitness accounts indicate a woman was leading the terrorists.

Latest intelligence reports seen by the Sunday Nation show that the mastermind of the Westgate massacre is suspected to be a 50-year-old Kenyan, Abu Sandheere — an associate of slain Al-Qaeda leader Fazul Abdulla.

At least 67 people, including six security officers, are said to have died in the attack while 175 are recorded to have been injured. It is suspected more bodies are buried under the rubble — something the government does not seem keen to acknowledge.

Even then, the puzzle of missing persons has left more unanswered questions. Red Cross figures show that at least 61 people have been reported missing.

But Mr Lenku said: “According to police records, there are no formal or official reports of missing persons who could have been at the mall during the time of the attack.”

The destruction of Westgate, including the collapse of a section of the building, has raised further questions as experts told the Sunday Nation that it must have been caused by a “huge explosion”.

On Monday, the Interior minister explained that billowing smoke was from burning mattresses lit by the terrorists to distract the security forces. However, sources within the military later said the fire was started by the Kenyan security forces. 

When the final onslaught was launched on Monday, it was confirmed the terrorists may have been holding some hostages. However, after the siege ended on Tuesday, there was no information on the fate of the hostages.

Instead, Mr Lenku talked of an “insignificant number” of bodies — a reference that stirred outrage on social media.

Retired military captain Simiyu Werunga said the terrorists either bombed the building or KDF was responsible for the explosion.

“Booby traps cannot bring down a building and neither can ordinary rifles. It requires extra firepower to do that. Probably there were bombs and when these guys (terrorists) felt they were being cornered they exploded the place.

The other scenario is the military did it, because we are talking of Special Forces who use fire power superior to rifles. But we cannot be sure because we didn’t see them,” he said.

Capt (rtd) Werunga said besides bombs, the explosion could have been caused by rocket propelled grenades. His views were supported by two other security experts, who cannot be named because they are serving officers and cannot comment on such sensitive matters.

According to Capt (rtd) Werunga, the terrorists had enough time to assemble improvised explosive devices and make bombs.

“The security officers gave them enough time to do it, bearing in mind that whatever they required had allegedly been brought to the building before they struck. From Saturday to Monday, that was enough time. If so, they must have strapped them from pillar to pillar. One explosion would trigger off the next and so on,” he added.

Another security officer indicated that Nakumatt supermarket and chemists within the mall provided perfect ingredients to make a bomb.

Reports of confusion during the operation have also raised questions on coordination during such attacks. An elite police unit drawn from the Recce squad of the GSU had apparently pinned down the terrorists on Saturday before KDF arrived.

This changeover allowed the terrorists to regroup and in the confusion, led to the shooting of a GSU commander. The mission was effectively taken over by KDF chief Julius Karangi even though Inspector-General of police David Kimaiyo was nominally in charge.

Some people who entered the building after the siege was over have also said that Automated Teller Machine had been vandalised, probably with explosives, and money stolen. Inside the banks, it was reported that some safes had been tampered with by force. However, the military has denied the claim. (See separate story).

On Friday, Mr Lenku said those who operated business in the mall had been allowed access to take inventory of their property.

The BBC spoke to Ms Irene Anyango, manager of a jewellery shop at Westgate, who claimed that 90 per cent of her stock had gone missing.

“It’s not the mall you used to see... things are spoiled, glasses are broken, everything is everywhere,” the BBC quoted her as having said.

Forensic and ballistic experts —including some from US, Israeli, Britain, Germany and Canada — are combing through the rubble to establish the nature of weapons used as well as identity of attackers and hostages.

The number and identity of those arrested has also been contradictory. Last week, there were reports that at least 11 people were in custody, including a Briton arrested at the airport. No evidence has so far been found to link him with the attack. Three had, however, been released.

Well placed security sources said only two suspects were arrested in the mall. One of them, Mr Gitonga Ali, is being treated at the Forces Memorial Hospital while the other is said to have died from gunshot wounds at the Aga Khan Hospital.

Mr Lenku said police were holding eight suspects as they sought to unmask the faces behind the worst terror attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in which more than 200 people died.

Pathologists are expected to begin work at the destroyed mall on Monday when it is expected the forensic experts would have finished combing through for evidence. “Westgate mall remains a scene of crime and access remains limited,” said Mr Lenku.

Reports that hostages held by the terrorists were tortured have been confirmed, but what really happened remains a mystery.

We have died for far too long for nothing, so let’s fix the Kenya

There are times when this country unites fervently in the face of adversity, and this was on display ten days ago when terrorists attacked the Westgate Mall.
Support for the security personnel involved in the operation was unanimous, and it was fantastic to see the volunteer spirit at work as citizens helped to rescue and transport the injured, while others brought food and refreshments to the soldiers and emergency-response personnel on site.
This column salutes the gallant spirit of the security personnel, as well as the volunteers who gave up time and resources — and ran the risk of possible injury from the militants barricaded inside the shopping mall. Our condolences go to the family and friends of those who tragically lost their lives in the atrocity, including President Uhuru, who lost family in the attack.
Systemic failures
The hard questions will already be coming out behind the closed doors and curtained windows of the intelligence and security superstructure of the country. This column has, in the past, lamented the here-today-gone-tomorrow focus of our police where security is concerned. We just don’t seem to have the required patience to painstakingly follow leads and use the intelligence garnered from them to secure the country

The terrorist atrocity was spectacular and sudden, but if we look closer, we will no doubt find that it was a result
 of systemic failures in security. Our policing is rather haphazard, and seems more geared towards allowing the police to make a quick shilling via extortion, rather than actually providing citizens with the security they deserve and expect.
As we ponder this, nothing has been done about the Baragoi massacre in which dozens of police officers were slaughtered after being led into an ambush thanks to faulty intelligence, poor kitting and questionable command. The supervisors of the police force are still in office; no one ever took responsibility for the atrocity. And that was that. No one was fired for it, and it appears to have quietly receded into the hidden recesses of our collective national memory.
No stone unturned
Every so often, we have fitful initiatives, like the long-planned sweeping up of illegal arms. But political expediency intervenes and the initiatives are quietly shelved. The government has long promised to “beef up” security in northern Kenya, especially on the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. One of the reasons that locals in those regions have firearms is to defend themselves against livestock rustling from neighbouring countries. Of course, securing the borders against such incursions, in the first place, would make it unnecessary for the locals to have firearms, and would also ensure that foreigners do not infiltrate the country to sell weapons or engage in terror activities.
But that sounds like asking too much. Every week, Kenyans are killed in various parts of the country as a direct result of lack of adequate police work. The much promised “we will leave no stone unturned” action never quite materialises, and we quickly go back to waiting for the next atrocity.
When will this vicious and tragic comedy stop?

Kenya tourist arrivals in Mara drop as wildebeests return to Tanzania

Tourist arrivals in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve dropped by about 50 per cent over the weekend compared to 98 per cent in the previous one, hoteliers said.
They observed on Sunday that the drop was expected and it had no connection with the Westgate Mall terrorist attack or travel advisories by foreign governments.
“We expected the arrivals to plummet around this time when wildebeests are migrating back to Tanzania where they came from in mid-July. There is nothing unusual. It is not connected to the Westgate Mall attack or the recent travel advisories by the US and the UK,” said Theophilus Shumwe, Camp Manager at Tipilikwani Mara Camp.
More arrivals are expected during the Easter weekend next year.
Arrival of tourists and other visitors is expected to peak again in mid-December to early January.
A survey by The Standard in most exclusive tented camps in various conservancies, however, established that they were fully booked, with proprietors saying they expect more arrivals even after the peak season, which is on a homestretch, ends.
“We expect more visitors even after the season ends. We have not received any cancellations even after Westgate Mall was attacked by terrorists,” said William
 Siara, a consultant tour guide with the exclusive Oleleshwa Camp outside the park.
Siara added that travel advisories were uncalled for, saying terrorist attacks were a global problem.
Hoteliers spoke as security remained tight in the Mara, with the General Service Unit checking arrivals at Sekenani, Oloolaimutia, Musiara, Oloololo and Talek gates. The Kenya- Tanzania border has also been secured, police sources said.

40 Nigerian male students killed after suspected Boko Haram militants storms College

Suspected Islamist militants stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around 40 male students, some of them while they slept early on Sunday, witnesses said.

The gunmen, thought to be members of rebel sect Boko Haram, attacked one hostel, took some students outside before killing them and shot others trying to flee, people at the scene told Reuters

"They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. It was so terrible," said one surviving student Idris, who would only give his first name.

"They came with guns around 1 am (2400 GMT) and went directly to the male hostel and opened fire on them ... The college is in the bush so the other students were running around helplessly as guns went off and some of them were shot down," said Ahmed Gujunba, a taxi driver who lives by the college.

Boko Haram, which wants to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has intensified attacks on civilians in recent weeks in revenge for a military offensive against its insurgency.

Several schools, seen as the focus of Western-style education and culture, have been targeted.

Boko Haram and spin-off Islamist groups like the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru have become the biggest security threat in Africa's second largest economy and top oil exporter.

 Western governments are increasingly worried about the threat posed by Islamist groups across Africa, from

 

 Mali and Algeria in the Sahara, to Kenya in the east, where Somalia's al-Shabaab fighters killed at least 67 people in an attack on a Nairobi shopping mall a week ago.

Bodies were recovered from dormitories, classrooms and outside in the undergrowth on Sunday, a member of staff at the college told Reuters, asking not to be named.

A Reuters witness counted 40 bloody corpses piled on the floor at the main hospital in Yobe state capital Damaturu on Sunday, mostly of young men believed to be students.

The bodies were brought from the college, which is in Gujba, a rural area 30 miles (50km) south of Damaturu and around 130 miles from Nigerian borders with Cameroon and Niger.

State police commissioner Sanusi Rufai said he suspected Boko Haram was behind the attack but gave no details.

 

Revenge attacks

Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising in 2009, turning itself from a clerical movement opposed to Western culture into an armed militia with growing links to al Qaeda's West African wing.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three northeastern state in May, including Yobe, and ordered a military offensive to crush Boko Haram's insurgency.

There was an initial lull in the violence as Islamists fled bases in cities, forests and mountains. Then the militants began revenge attacks on schools, security forces and civilians believed to be helping them.

In July, suspected Boko Haram militants killed 27 students and a teacher at a school in Potiskum, a town about 30 miles from the site of Sunday's attack.

Several hundred people have died in assaults over the past few weeks. Some observers say the army offensive has only succeeded in pushing attacks away from well-guarded large towns and cities into vulnerable rural areas.

Boko Haram's insurgency is also putting pressure on the economy of Africa's most populous nation. Nigeria's security spending has risen to more than 1 trillion naira ($6.26 billion) per year, or around 20 percent of the federal budget. ($1 = 159.8 Nigerian naira)

 

Eyewitnesses accuse police of complacency (+playlist)

Man Found Dead In House Full Of Snakes

Police looking for a missing man were shocked to find him dead in his home — surrounded by over forty giant snakes.

Many of the reptiles, including a 30ft anaconda and four 35ft pythons, were slithering free around the decomposing
body when police entered snake fan Heiko Rieder's apartment in Straubing, Germany.

A fire service spokesman said: "At least one was as thick as a human thigh."

Worried colleagues alerted police after the 40-year-old caretaker failed to turn up to work for a week.

It is thought he died from a heart attack while feeding his pets.

Experts believe he was only saved from being eaten as he was too WIDE to be swallowed whole.

Reptile centre boss Markus Baur, now caring for the snakes, said: "They probably didn't eat him for two reasons. One, they prefer their prey alive to start with.

"And two, they like to eat their prey whole and the average European adult is just too long and wide for that."

In total, 46 snakes, some in tanks, were recovered from the property.

A police spokesman said: "His body decomposed rapidly because of the heat coming from the snakes' terrariums. There don't appear to be any suspicious circumstances."

The south china morning post this week reported of the nuptials between china and Kenya. The two countries “exchanged vows of friendship and spoke of widening economic and political co-operation”. Agreements worth sh425 billion signed with china on Monday. Certainly there is value in Kenya expanding her traditional friendships and seeking to create new ones. But advice from us President Barack Obama offered on his Africa tour in June is worth remembering. He said: make sure it’s a good deal for Africa’ in reference to foreign interests here. Tonight on checkpoint we are asking is china offering Kenya a good deal. Joining us now to discuss the eastern dragon is strategist Moses Kuria just back from Beijing and our in house political analyst prof Edward Kisiangani.

THE FORCE CONTRIBUTION HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS??? IN THE WORLD??? JUST BECOUSE THE PRESIDENT RELATIVE IN DEAD

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY FORCES KENYAN DIPLOMATIC STAFF TO CONTRIBUTE TO UHURU'S NEPHEW FUNERAL. THOSE WHO DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO BE RECALLED OR TO FACE IMMEDIATE SACK!! YES WE ARE ONEndering!!

INSTEAD OF THE JUBILEE GOVT CRITISIZING THE US GOVT FOR ISSUING TRAVEL ADVISORY TO THEIR CITIZENS WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL TO KENYA, WHY DON'T THEY DO THE SAME AND ISSUE A TRAVEL ADVISORY TO KENYANS WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL TO THE US. THEY SAID THEY DO NOT NEED THE WEST AND ESPECIALLY THE US AND THAT THEY NEED ONLY CHINA AND RUSSIA. SO WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM NOW?

Kenya Saturday criticized Washington for issuing its latest travel advisory in the wake of last weekend’s terror attack at the Westgate shopping mall.

A statement from State House said the country had ‘noted with concern’ the re-issuing by the US government of the advisory terming the move ‘unnecessary and uncalled for.’

This is despite pleas by President Kenyatta and former Prime Minister to western countries to reconsider the move.

“We wish to unequivocally condemn the re-issuing of the travel advisory, and reject it as unnecessary and uncalled for,” read the Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“Terrorism, such as in the attack on Westgate Mall, is a global problem. The United States itself, has suffered terror attacks before, and so have other countries right across the globe,” it went on.

“We have made these points clear to the United States government through the usual diplomatic channels. Issuing travel advisories, such as this one, are not what we expect of our friends with whom we have enjoyed cordial diplomatic relations for a long time.”

The government said it expected support from friends of the country, which it called on the US government to withdraw the advisory.

Thursday, the US government warned its citizens considering travel to Kenya to evaluate their personal security in light of continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism and the high rate of violent crime in some areas.

“In light of the recent attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, the U.S. Department of State has reissued its Travel Warning of July 5, 2013, which warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Kenya,” they warned.

The siege at the mall by suspected members of the Al Shabaab terrorist organisation left at least 67 people dead and scores others injured. At least five US citizens were injured in the attack.

The State Department said it continues to receive information about potential threats aimed at the interests of Western countries in Kenya including those in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Read the advisory; “Although these restrictions do not apply to travellers not associated with the U.S. government, U.S. citizens in Kenya should take these restrictions into account when planning travel. The Embassy regularly reviews the security of these areas for possible modification.”

“There are no restrictions on U.S. embassy employee travel to Kenya's most popular tourist destinations such as Masai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Tsavo, Lamu Island, Hell's Gate, Samburu, Mount Kenya, Malindi, and Nairobi,” it added.

The UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also advised its citizens against all but essential travel within 60km of the Kenya-Somali border

Security chiefs hard-pressed to explain how powerful explosives entered Kenya

The country’s security agencies are on the spot over embarrassing security lapses that led to the deadly terrorist attack that killed 67 people, including civilians, security forces and at least five terrorists.

Also likely to come under serious scrutiny are the all-too obvious contradicting statements issued by senior government officials suggesting a deliberate campaign of misinformation or bungling by the government in a bid to down-play the magnitude of the terror attack.

Among those on the spot:

Joseph ole Lenku, Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government

As Cabinet Secretary in charge of national security, Mr Lenku was the “official” government spokesman, charged with giving periodic updates on the progress of the campaign to neutralise terrorists and free hostages.

In one such update, Mr Lenku appeared to contradict his Cabinet colleague in charge of Foreign Affairs, Ms Amina Mohamed, on the possible involvement of a white female terrorist in the attack.

Mr Lenku had also exuded confidence when he declared that the evacuation of hostages had gone “very, very well” and that Kenyan officials were “very certain” that few, if any hostages, were left in the building, only for President Kenyatta to reveal that there could be bodies trapped in the collapsed mall.

Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo

As the man directly in charge of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, charged with detecting and combating terrorism, Mr Kimaiyo will be hard-pressed to explain the agency’s failure to detect movement of the huge cache of arms to the scene of the terror attack.

He will also be at pains to explain the rather slow police response and the glaring absence of a central command and clear rivalry between the various police units and the KDF, leading to the fatal shooting of the GSU officer by KDF personnel.

Mr Kimaiyo may also want to explain a rather misleading tweet to the effect that his forces had “taken control of all the floors. We’re not here to feed attackers with pastries...”, only for bursts of gunfire to erupt from the Mall the next morning, indicating the terrorists were far from vanquished.

Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo
Ms Omamo will be hard-pressed to explain the likely possibility that external aggressors could have sneaked in, even as the Kenya Defence Forces under her watch engaged Al-Shabaab at its doorstep in Somalia.

Kenya Defence Forces chief, General Julius Karangi

Gen Karangi will need to explain the lack of a clear command between the various police units and KDF resulting in the fatal shooting of the GSU officer by his officers.
National Intelligence Service Director General Michael Gichangi

Mr Gichangi is on the spot over the agency’s failure to detect the movement of the huge cache of arms used and why the Service failed to detect the presence of the terrorists.

The agency came under severe criticism during an emergency session by Parliament, with the MPs demanding a major overhaul of the NIS, accusing it of gobbling up billions of shillings without any tangible results.

“The intelligence department also needs radical surgery,” Lagdera MP Mohamed Shidiye said.

Directorate of Criminal Investigation Director Ndegwa Muhoro

Mr Muhoro will be held to account over his Directorate’s failure to detect the terrorists’ presence, movements and operations.

The Department of Immigration

The department, which falls under the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, will also be under pressure to explain the issuance of travel documents to criminals from foreign countries after it emerged some of the terrorists could be foreign nationals.

One suspect in the attack is said to be a foreigner holding Kenyan passport.

Kenya 'at war' with al Shabaab, faces security questions

Kenya is "at war" with Islamist militants who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall, the government said on Saturday as it faced questions about whether it had received advance intelligence warnings of the deadly strike.
A week after the raid on the Westgate shopping centre that killed 67 civilians and police and was claimed by the Somali militant group al Shabaab, the government has been trying to reassure Kenyans that it can protect them from further attacks.
Three Kenyan newspapers reported on Saturday that a year ago the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had warned of the presence of suspected al Shabaab militants in Nairobi and that they were planning to carry out "suicide attacks" on the Westgate mall and on a church in the city.
In front-page stories, the Nation, Standard and Star newspapers questioned whether the Kenyan government and military may have failed to act on this and more recent warnings this year by local and foreign intelligence services.
"It is not a 'yes' or 'no' answer," Mutea Iringo, principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior, told Reuters.
"Every day, we get intelligence and action is taken as per that intelligence and many attacks averted. But the fact that you get the intelligence does not mean something cannot happen," the senior official added.
"What we are saying is that we are at war, and that every day some young Kenyan is being radicalized by al Shabaab to kill Kenyans," Iringo said, calling on citizens across the east African nation to be alert and cooperate with authorities.

The newspaper reports emerged ahead of a meeting on Monday of the Kenyan parliament's defense and foreign relations committee which is expected to ask security chiefs how much warning they had of Saturday's assault.
In the mall attack that extended into a four-day siege, gunmen fired on shoppers and tossed grenades leaving a trail of victims and shocking Kenya and the world. Al Shabaab said it acted in revenge against Kenyan troops who have been fighting it in neighboring Somalia for two years.
Britain's government said on Saturday a sixth British national had been identified among those killed at the mall. French and Canadian nationals also died.
The Star quoted another NIS briefing in February warning of a gun and grenade attack in Kenya similar to a three-day killing spree by militants in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.
In an editorial, the Standard said the reports pointed to "obvious" security lapses. "It is becoming increasingly apparent that the country's top security organs may have received adequate briefing on imminent terror threats," it said.
 Why they did not act in time to save the needless deaths at Westgate is astonishing and dumbfounding," it added.
The possibility that al Shabaab, which has carried out previous smaller gun and grenade attacks in Kenya, may be planning further high-profile strikes presents a major security challenge for President Uhuru Kenyatta, elected in March.
But the incident has also rallied foreign support for him as he confronts charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He denies charges of orchestrating violence following Kenya's disputed 2007 elections.
FORENSIC PROBE UNDER WAY
Five of the mall attackers were killed and Kenyan authorities say they are holding eight people over the raid, which confirmed Western and regional fears about al Shabaab's ability to strike beyond Somalia's borders.
It also dented Kenya's vital tourism industry, although the Finance minister says it will not have a long-term impact.
Kenyan officials have not so far specified the identities or nationalities of the attackers, saying forensic investigation of the wrecked mall building and of the dead will take time.
This has produced a deluge of unconfirmed speculation that radicalized diaspora Somalis from the United States and Europe may have been involved in the al Shabaab operation.


U.S., Israeli and European forensic experts are helping Kenya in the investigation.
A week after the attack, the five-storey, beige-colored mall remained sealed off to the public. From outside, a spray of bullet holes was visible around one upstairs window.
A team of foreign officials wearing white protective clothing and yellow boots could be seen leaving the mall escorted by an armed man wearing a black flak jacket.
Kenyan and Western officials have said they cannot confirm speculation that Briton Samantha Lewthwaite, widow of one of the 2005 London suicide bombers, had a role in the mall attack. Some survivors said they saw an armed white woman.

Kenya requested a "red alert" wanted notice issued by Interpol for Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow" by the British media, but said she was wanted in connection with a previous 2011 plot that was also linked by police to al Shabaab.
With the country's security services on high alert, some Kenyans said they were worried that the government may have failed to act on prior intelligence information.
 "It sounds like laxity. If you get warnings ... you have got to listen to those warnings," said businessman Vipool Shah.

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY AFTER THEIR MAKING, SHOCK AFTER REVELATION THEY MIGHT HAVE MORE TO TELL KENYANS

Skip trials at own peril Fatou Bensouda warns Deputy President William Ruto

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has fired a warning salvo to Deputy President William Ruto that he risks arrest if he skips trial proceedings without permission of the judges.
The warning comes just days after the office of the prosecutor suggested somebody else should be sworn in on a temporary basis to discharge Ruto’s duties as deputy head of state.
“The Prosecution notes Ruto is not here (ICC voluntarily, but on compulsion of summons and risks arrest if he defaults,” Bensouda warned as she opposed Ruto’s plea to the Appeals Chamber to lift an order compelling him to be in court.
The Chief Prosecutor maintained Ruto is an accused person before the ICC and while presumed innocent, “cannot expect that life would continue normally”.
“The effect of the confirmation of charges is that a trial will ensue in the normal course and the accused, if not in custody, will have to make the necessary arrangements to attend that trial,” she charged.
On Monday evening, Ruto’s defence counsel Karim Khan lodged a fresh request to the Appeals Chamber to excuse his client from being physically present in court during his trial. Ruto pointed to the one-week adjournment following the bloody Westgate Shopping Mall (Nairobi) terror attack, arguing such breaks would result in delays in proceedings or interruptions of witness testimony.


But in her response on Thursday, Bensouda insisted Khan’s new argument including the tragic events at Westgate that led to the adjournment Monday do not change the reasoning of the Appeals Chamber’s decision.
Continuous presence
“The new facts raised have no bearing on the Appeals Chamber’s reasons for granting suspensive effect. If the trial continues without Ruto and the appeal succeeds, the results will be difficult to correct and the consequences may be irreversible. Therefore, the request should be rejected,” the Chief Prosecutor said.
For the first time this week, President Uhuru Kenyatta also requested Trial Chamber V(b) to excuse him from continuous presence at trial, citing his new roles as president.
Bensouda is yet to react to the application by the President.The ruling by the five-judge Bench and headed by the ICC  president Judge Sang-Hyun Song is expected soon.

About 13,000 soldiers from seven countries (Thailand, United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia) participated in Cobra Gold 2013, a joint, multi-national military training exercise which focuses on maintaining and improving military-to-military relationships among nations. And the training has been hosted annually by Thailand since 1982. During this year’s training, Thai soldiers got to show the U.S. Marines how to catch a cobra with their bare hands, as well as drink the snake blood to survive. Pictures continue

The judiciary is at crossroads in the wake of leaked emails revealing an institution caught in serious infighting with forces uniting for and against a common course. One faction led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga is portrayed in the hacked emails as launching an onslaught against the Chief Registrar of the judiciary Gladys Shollei. The registrar has now issued a 24 hour ultimatum to the chief justice to institute a public inquiry over allegations against her as the chife justice says the registrar could be prosecuted over the hacked emails scandal. Ken Mijungu reports that the judiciary is headed for self destruction.

Frogs Spérm makes woman pregnant

The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot.

Experts looking into this case concluded that the mother came into contact with spérms of a frog while bathing in a river. And coincidentally that was the exact time she was ovuláting.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death.
The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

"We wouldn't have been able to save it, even if it had been brought here alive," said a nurse attending to the mother at the hospital, "This is an extremely abnormal case."

The "baby" weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period.

Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy.

Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. "I am happy that nothing happened to my wife," he said.

The gorverment should focus on this indicipline on the parks than following the fomer prime minister isues if this can happen in a broad daylight i think this is why the terrorist also come in a broad daylight since they understand the goverment is always practicing this watch? they are busy gurding the lovers who will gurd the terrorist???????????

Westgate siege: who is telling the truth?????????????????????????

My plain reading of article 2 (4) of the constitution tells me that any law that is inconsistent or in contravention of this constitution is invalid.
The terrorism act which was recently signed into law with its provision for detaining arrested persons beyond the 24 hrs before arraingment in court is in my humble opinion clearly in contravention of article 49(1) (f) of the constitution.

This is strictly a legal question & is about fidelity to the law & has nothing to do with empathising with terror suspects. Any terrorist, in my view, should just rot in hell. The govt had repeatedly stated that it's holding & interrogating 11 but yesterday stepped the number down to 8 terror suspects beyond the 24 hrs the law provides for before taking them to court. Rights of an arrested person, irrespective of reasons of arrest, are sacrosaunt, basic & fundamental, remember

How Wole Soyinka escaped the westgate attack

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said that the late Ghanaian diplomat and poet, Kofi Awoonor and himself could have been together at the Storymoja/Hay Literature Festival held in Nairobi, Kenya.
He said he was invited to the same festival but could not attend.Awoonor was killed by terrorists last Saturday at the Westgate Shopping Mall shooting in Nairobi.Soyinka said two commitments: a public conversation with a very brave individual, Karima Bennoune, an Algerian national, whose trenchant publication – Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here, and the annual conference of international investigators in Tunis, were responsible for his inability to attend the festival.
He said: “My absence was particularly regrettable, because I had planned to make up for my failure to turn up for the immediate prior edition. Participant or absentee however, this is one edition we shall not soon forget. It was at least two days after the listing of Kofi Awoonor among the victims that I even recollected the fact that the Festival was ongoing at that very time.
Soyinka spoke in Lagos yesterday during a memorial reading session tagged Humanity and Against and held in honour of the late Ghanaian poet.
He described the late Awoonor as a passionate African who gave primacy of place to values derived from his Ewe heritage. “That, in turn, means that he was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of ecumenism towards other systems of belief and cultural usages – this being the scriptural ethos that permeates belief practices of most of this continent. We mourn our colleague and brother, but first, we denounce his killers, the virulent sub-species of humanity who bathe their hands in innocent blood,” he added.
Renowned poet, Prof JP Clark explained why Soyinka and himself were not at the funeral of the late Chinua Achebe at Ogidi, Anambra State, blaming it on politicians that hijacked the funeral. He noted that Prof Soyinka and himself did not sit and plot action on whether or not to attend Achebe’s funeral in Ogidi.
Clark said critics might be wondering why a memorial is being held in honour of Awoonor in Lagos unlike when Chinua Achebe died.
President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Prof Remi Raji, who read from his collection of poems, The Fire Next Time, said of the late Ghanaian poet: “African literature has indeed lost an influential voice. The name, Kofi Awoonor, was very present in our minds as young students. Though I never met him in person, his writings have been influential. The ANA has sent a condolence letter to the Ghana authority. Today’s memorial is very instructive. His death is a reflection of the urban barbarisms in the globe today.”
Other scholars who read excerpts at the memorial were Prof Kole Omotoso, Prof Femi Osofisan, Dr. Wale Okediran and Lola Shoneyin.

Blame game over Westgate attack

Rivalry among security agencies and lack of clear command lines badly affected the response to the terrorist

attack on the Westgate Mall, the Nation has established.

Jurisdictional differences appear to have extended to blame games among security agencies, as Kenya recovers from its worst terror attack since the 1998 bombing of the Embassy of the United States of America in Nairobi.

Various units of the Kenya Police and the Kenya Defence Forces played key roles in the rescue operation after a band of terrorists linked to Somalia-based Al-Shabaab attacked the shopping mall on Saturday and killed dozens before holding an unknown number hostage inside the up-market complex.

Inquiries by the Nation indicate that a coordinated rescue mission was badly delayed because of disputes between the Kenya Police and KDF officers commanding their units on the ground.

A reconstruction of the rescue mission indicates that a team from the Recce General Service Unit of the Kenya Police early in the rescue operation made its way into the mall and secured most of it, pinning down the terrorists at one end around Nakumatt Supermarket and Barclays Bank.

Rooftop parking

However, the team pulled out after its commander was fatally shot in ‘friendly fire’ following the arrival of a KDF unit.

Also pulling out at the same time was a small group of policemen from various units and armed civilians, who were the first to enter the mall from the rooftop parking and the front entrance and led hundreds of shoppers to safety.

The pullout left a vacuum that apparently allowed the terrorists to regroup and move through the mall slaughtering many captives.

It also allowed the terrorists to deploy heavy-calibre machine guns that they had not used in the earlier shootout.

It took prolonged consultations that also involved State House before President Kenyatta publicly announced that Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo was in charge.

However, it was also decided that KDF Special Forces would be the ones to conduct the actual assault on the terrorists, while the GSU and other police units ringed the mall.

The soldiers and their commanders on the ground only answered to KDF chief General Julius Karangi rather than to the police boss, which also complicated the operation.
The teams also appeared to have had different aims. One officer involved said that some units had a priority to locate and rescue a specific group of VIPs.

Barely an hour after the attack, the GSU squad had taken control of almost 70 per cent of the building after moving in to reinforce the small group of policemen, who were the first to enter the building.

The KDF Special Forces came in later to spearhead the operation, with the GSU forming the second inner cordon in the mall behind the army units from the 20 Para Battalion and Maroon Commandos.

The rivalry is understood to have extended to communication on how the public would be informed of the progress of the operation.

As Parliament promised to demand answers from all units involved, it also emerged on Wednesday that the police had been given advance intelligence on the planned terrorist attack, but failed to act.

The Parliamentary Defence Committee Thursday summoned all security chiefs — including National Intelligence Service boss Michael Gichangi—to appear before it next week. The sessions are expected to be dominated by buck-passing.

“The time for responsibility and accountability has come,” Defence Committee chairman Ndung’u Gethenji said.

Likely targets

A local newspaper Thursday quoted an intelligence source claiming Maj-Gen Gichangi had passed information to Mr Kimaiyo and CID director Ndegwa Muhoro on the impending attack on Westgate.

Speaking to the Nation Thursday, however, a highly-placed source within the police denied that such information was ever passed on.

He said all the communication logs and situation reports had been cross-checked in the wake of the attack and confirmed that no such report was ever made.

What was on record in the recent past, he insisted, were the regular alerts on terrorist plots and likely targets such as government buildings, city landmarks and high-rise buildings, tourist hotels, up-market shopping malls frequented by diplomats and expatriates, and western embassies.

From the debate in Parliament in the wake of the attack, it also appears some MPs have already decided who to blame for the security lapse.

Meanwhile, intelligence officers are pursuing leads indicating that a terrorist who is already serving a 59-year jail term was in contact from behind prison walls with the group that planned and carried out the Westgate attack.

Abdimajid Yassin Mohammed was last year jailed after pleading guilty to the charges of terrorism. It is believed that some warders at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison allowed him to communicate with the conspirators outside.

Suicide mission
Mr Mohammed, 26, and a colleague reportedly bought a Peugeot 505 car for Sh180,000 and did not bother to ask for the log book.
They had planned to use it for a suicide mission on Parliament, but the car broke down on September 13 as they set out on their operation.
They were arrested with four suicide bomb belts, 12 hand grenades, four AK 47 rifles, 481 bullets and two home-made bombs. They led police to a flat in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area where some of the arsenal was recovered.

They also confessed that they were sent to Kenya by Jafra Hussein, an Al-Shabaab commander in Mogadishu.