Kenya: Stop the Al Shabab Ideological War, Government Told
By Charles Mghenyi
9 December 2014
who walked 1,500 km from Mombasa to Moyale to preach against negative
ethnicity, has said sacking security bosses will not solve the security
problems in Kenya.
He said the government needs to fight al Shabab ideology instead of the
youth who have already joined the militant group.
Isaac said the sacking of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku and
resignation of Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo was not the
soultion.
Isaac, who is the founder of the Pillars of Hope organisation, said fighting
the youth with heavy arms leads to more chaos and violence.
Speaking in Mombasa on Sunday night after accomplishing the first leg of his
walk from Mombasa to Moyale, he said al Shabab is engaging Kenya in an
ideological war.
"They have managed to recruit our youth. They are doing everything to divide
Kenyans along religious lines. This is the ideological war they are
propagating," Isaac said.
He said local leaders are engaging in politics of negative tribalism.
Isaac said in all the 16 counties he went through during his walk, he
discovered that negative ethnicity is what is ailing Kenya the most.
"Every Kenyan I talked to, said that tribalism is what affects them. However
the government has failed to put up a mechanism to fight the menace," he
said.
Pillar of Hope is planning to collect 10 million signatures to compel the
National Assembly to declare tribalism a national disaster.
"In the early 90s when Aids was killing our people it was declared a
national disaster and we have since seen it prevalence rate going down
notably," Isaac said.
He said by declaring tribalism a national disaster, the government will be
forced to invest and come in fighting deep-rooted ethnicity in the country.
Isaac said they will also lobby for an education bill that will include a
syllabus to teach students to shun tribalism.
"Our children will get to learn from a tender age that tribalism is bad," he
said.