Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua is received by military officers at the Mandera airstrip on November 25, 2014. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO
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Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Army Commander Jackson Kasaon were Tuesday dispatched to address workers camping at the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) camp at the Mandera airstrip.
The workers wanted to be evacuated from the area following the Saturday bus attack in which 28 people were executed.
The government Tuesday moved to prevent a mass exodus of workers from Mandera after the ambush of a Nairobi-bound bus that killed 28 people on Saturday.
The mainly non-Muslim workers insisted they wanted to be evacuated from the area despite Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Army Commander Jackson Kasaon assuring them of their security.
Mr Kinyua and the army boss were Tuesday dispatched to address the workers camping at the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) camp at the Mandera airstrip.
“The government’s message is that you should go back to your respective residence and that the government is enhancing security patrols in town by involving the KDF twenty hours,” said Mr Kinyua.
“We are providing the security and if we evacuate you then it shall mean we have succumbed to terror pressure.”
Somalia’s Islamist Al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the attack that saw gunmen order passengers to recite Koran verses, shooting dead 19 men and nine women.
Al Shabaab said the killings were in retaliation for raids on mosques in Mombasa.
Kenyan security forces say they pursued and killed more than 100 militants and destroyed their camp in Somalia.
Parliament last evening adjourned business to debate the Saturday attack, with the National Assembly and the Senate separately calling for radical changes in the security agencies.
“Even if we remove Cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku or IG David Kimaiyo, we will not address security challenges because of systemic failure in the security sector. We must reform the agencies now,” said Francis Nyenze, the minority leader.
The workers told Mr Kinyua they wanted to be evacuated while still alive and “not while dead as it happened to our 28 colleagues who were airlifted after they had died.”
Lt Gen Kasaon said more troops will be deployed to pursue the militants.
“We have destroyed their base in Somalia and killed over hundred so please stay and build Mandera. KDF shall provide escort along the roads. More equipment for security like CCTV camera will also be available in town,” he said.
Workers at the airstrip complained that those who volunteered information to police were set up by security personnel who leaked information to Al-Shabaab sympathisers.
Teachers and medical staff unions have called for their members to quit clash-torn areas including Mandera, Turkana, Garissa, Lamu and Wajir amid protests from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).
“The emotive pronouncements such as those by Knut and the doctors union will be counterproductive and could easily play into evil hands of the Al Shabaab terror group,” Francis Ole Kaparo, NCIC chairman said.
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