The violence that rocked Mombasa in the last two days is very perturbing. The death, destruction and the desecration of places of worship witnessed yesterday will just inflame an already bad situation. it is very indicative of a leadership vacuum in the Muslim population and a government that does not know the head from the tail of the situation its dealing with. The youth themselves are not totally blameless but putting all the blame on them like everyone is doing is hugely missing the point.
I have always believed that the war on terror is terror by itself. It has made the world very unsafe place for all of us.
let me digress. You may have believed that the word terror is synonymous with Islam and Muslims but let me ask you, where were the Muslim terrorists before the 1990's?? Islam existed before 1990, right? if it's a doctrine for them to be violent how comes they were not following what their religion teaches before 1990? before 1990, the United States believed the former USSR with its Communism posed the biggest threat to its capitalism. The KGB and the Russian mafia were the terrorists. The US armed the Afghan Mujahidin, including Osama, to defeat Russia. Upon the downfall of the Soviet Union, the US turned its guns against the next potential threat to its domination of the world; Muslims. Why are the Muslims a threat, you may ask. First of all Islam prohibits interest in all its forms. Interest is the bedrock of capitalism. It ensures the poor remain poor while the rich dominate and subjugate them. Secondly, Islam provides a complete system of governance that is independent of all other systems. Its this system that the west fears. Say you want to be governed with the Islamic sharia and you automatically become a terrorist in the eyes of Uncle Sam.
Coming back to Mombasa, the problem is bigger than most of us want to believe and we have chosen to bury our heads in the sand. We are where we are because of a failed Muslim leadership, restless youth with no employment and a government that is trying to justify the million of dollars that it receives from the west.
The Government
No one can take the government serious on this issue. It is totally confused. it acts only to show its benefactors that its doing something for the dollars to continue trickling in. it has no intention to resolve the issue in total disregard of our security and stability. The westgate blunders are still fresh in our minds. The daily explosions have made all public places unsafe. Investigation and intelligence gathering is not in the security arms training manual. When something happens, in a knee-jerk reaction, it moves in to action and harasses the same victims of the insecurity and when they are too lazy to do anything, they will tweet that "there was no explosion at JKIA. A light bulb fell on some papers and caused fire". No one asks questions. We move to the next loss of life and the next government blunder.
The Mombasa meeting was announced weeks a head of yesterday on public notices. if the government was serious, it would have forestalled the said meeting from happening. if as per its narrative the meeting was criminal, why didn't it apprehend and arrest the conveners?. why did it have to wait until the meeting started in the mosque? even if the meeting started due to the government's own laxity, why storm a place of worship and cause death and destruction inside it? The assertion that they were fired at from the mosque is both laughable and ridiculous. They can tell it to the dogs. We are very well used to government propaganda in justifying things.
Kenya is the biggest casualty of attacks outside the US and Israel, the pilot and the co-pilot of the whole problem, and we have never heard of a single terrorism related case brought before a court where a conviction was obtained. All the government does is eliminate individuals in a cold blood. This is the law of the jungle and breeds a vicious cycle of lawlessness. If the government cant observed its own laws, what will prevent the citizens from disobeying the same laws. What the government is doing is a kin to pruning the problem rather than getting to the root cause. They cut one leaf and in its place emerges two more leaves. The problem will continue getting bigger unless the root cause is addressed and an amicable solution found.
The Muslim Leadership
This lot bear the biggest blame. Is there any leadership really? I will talk of those who purport to lead the Muslim youth. Those who are only heard when striking political deals with politicians during the general elections. Just like politicians, they disappear for 5 years. They are constantly in power struggle. What you are seeing with the Muslim youth at the coast and other parts is a manifestation of a failed leadership both at the national and local levels. The religious, political and community leaders have failed their responsibilities leaving the youth with no option but to take matters in their own hands. What do you expect of a 20-something young man with no job, no hope and with 24 hours at his disposal. leadership is earned and not given. The current leadership has lost the moral authority to lead.
Violence only begets violence. The situation calls for dialogue with the youth and provision of opportunities for them to expend their energies on. The creation of fear is meant to justify current atrocities and future ones. The government is putting out fire with petrol and the consequences will be dire.
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