Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi has questioned the state over the Shakahola massacre in Kilifi County.
Wandayi Monday said the security intelligence has failed.
He asked how security intelligence from Nairobi to Shakahola and every village in Kenya could have not received the reports about what was transpiring.
He also questioned the chiefs, assistant chiefs, village elders, and Nyumba Kumi heads could have failed to have the information over the same.
“This system failed and Kenyans deserve to know why,” Wandayi said.
“That so many people could walk away from their homes, stay away for so long, starve and die without anyone noticing or reporting something amiss demands an urgent public inquiry with consequences for those who slept on the job.”
He said the massacre requires evaluation, re-evaluation, and redefining of the security system.
“If the dead and the dying had been in Shakahola brewing or taking change or smoking bhang, arrests would have been made. If the dead and the dying had been in Shakahola village waiting for some non-establishment political leader, an alarm would have been raised, police would have taken notice, tear-gas canisters would have been lobbed and they would have been dispersed. Our definition of security needs a rethink and an overhaul.”
According to him, the security agencies failed to act because there were no orders from above.
He questioned why interior CS Kithure Kindiki could ask Coast Regional Commissioner and security chiefs to reinforce the team currently exhuming the bodies in the forest.
“These mass deaths could have been avoided if our criminal justice system worked. This tragedy had been brewing for years but the criminal justice system has been too weak, too archaic, and too compromised to prevent it.”
Good News International church founder Paul Makenzie has been on and off the court together with his accomplices on various occasions.
Wandayi said the criminal justice and security systems are too archaic, too self-important, and too greedy to stand up for and protect the poor Kenyans.
“Because the victims were poor villagers, nobody cared and everyone who should have cared looked the other way.”
The minority leader called upon the regulation of church entities.
“We must take a fresh look at faith and religion and those who would kill in the name of faith. We must come up with ways to stop deranged and criminal characters from destroying humanity in the name of religion. However, this should not be an excuse for the State, or elements within it, to start imposing unnecessary restrictions on genuine religious activities.”
He said both the criminal justice system and National Government Administration should be audited.
As of Monday midday, 58 bodies had been exhumed at Shakahola.
The number is expected to increase astronomically as the exhumation continues.
