Two lapses are too many: Presidential security is not Mickey Mouse gamble

 

Article 131(1)(e) of the Constitution describes the President as a symbol of national unity.

In layman terms, I believe this is to say that when we see him, we should be motivated to drop our petty tribal differences and find common purpose in him or her.

The Constitution presumes that s/he will be a good woman or man who will repay this mandate by placing the nation on a path of progress, unity and peace.

We spend billions to elect the President, and billions more to protect him. Even though robbers routinely break into our humble abodes and harass us witless, we make the safe assumption that if they tried this madness where our President lives, it would be the last thing they ever try.

This is why two images of breaches of the security around President Uhuru Kenyatta last week were disturbing. The first incident happened in Lamu, where the President was launching the port.

The video doesn’t quite capture the intruder, but you can tell from the face of President Kenyatta’s aide de camp Lt Col Timothy Lekolool that he could see someone approaching Uhuru, and moved slightly from his position.

His leaving the back of the president for the front meant that somebody at the front wasn’t doing his job. And this was in Lamu, of all places.

The neighbourhood has gained a sort of notoriety for which, on any given day, you would expect presidential security, not just VIP security in general, to be at the top of their game.

Before you could say “enough”, the show moved to Lucky Summer in Nairobi.

Let me say from the onset that growing up, and late into adulthood, one of the things that we all invariably enjoyed was watching presidential escort officers in action.

The Moi presidency was famed for its fidelity to time, where the President was said to have been an early riser who consumed national intelligence long before ordinary mortals were woken up by the national broadcaster’s “Amka Kumekucha” anthem.

This is in stark contrast to today’s State House, where Kenyans have created juicy jokes about the indicated times for the start of any function, which are almost always never kept.

The precision was visible in how Moi’s security worked, with fleet-footed commandos moving in and out of their cars to the rhythm of the President, in flawless acts that remained edged in our minds forever. We were mesmerized.

Last week’s Lucky Summer mishap was all the more troubling because of how the next seconds happened. The President’s car window appeared open. One of the two outriders, obviously not used to seeing someone jump right in front of the presidential limousine, promptly jumped off his motorcycle and comically placed it on the road, clearly wondering whether to tackle the intruder or wait for backup.

It seemed to take ages before the backup arrived. The first thing that crosses one’s mind is just what would happen in those seconds, if a man with more evil intentions, jumping out of an unscreened crowd, came so close to the President?

The head of state is reported to have asked his security men to leave the young man alone. He is reputed to be a free spirit who loves to pop into local joints for a few beers and roast meat like most Kenyan men do, so he probably thought this was just another case of voters trying to get close to him.

However, even he must be told that if it was okay for people to jump across the road and stop his motorcade, we would house him in a small apartment in Ongata Rongai rather than paying through our noses to keep him and his family safe inside a State House fortress and a fleet of armoured fuel guzzlers.

We are in the middle of a complicated war with al Shabaab in Somalia, with some belligerents from that conflict perennially trying to harm us here in the motherland.

Any signs of laxity in security around our symbols of national unity must be good news to them.

We also have to face our own realities at home. For a long time, the President and his deputy have been at loggerheads, and the consensus is that it may be too late to repair that relationship.

Since they are the two most powerful people in government and in their political formations, they predictably command loyalty within the political, security and civil service structure.

These divided loyalties are spiced with heavy doses of tribal divisions. It is not the sort of time you want something happening to the President, because none of us is prepared for the dynamics attendant to such a scenario.

I was shocked to see a sitting MP dismissing the security incident in Lucky Summer as “just a hungry hustler trying to reach the President”.

Thankfully, only one politician, as commander-in-chief, has an influence on the security services.

I would be worried, but not surprised, if many more elected leaders thought that charging towards the President is the best expression of hunger and national needs. In fact, you cannot belabour the point so much that those who attempt it and live to tell the story are lucky.

We are about to enter that electoral season when those who want to win seats will do anything not to lose.

It is also the season when many civilians who hold offices that oversee the security services may also want to look the other way and run for elective office. Uhuru, not eligible for another term, will largely be the lame-duck that everyone learns to ignore.

In this sort of environment, it is easy to drop the ball. However, we must demand from those who protect the President their utmost professional focus.

You can get away with one mishap in Lamu, another in Lucky Summer, or the odd uncontrolled crowds besieging the President’s motorcade in Kisumu and Muthurwa, but your margins of error are the nation’s anxiety.

What we as a country cannot afford is for these gaffes to become the norm and unwittingly invite people who are not there just to wave at the President to try mischief.

Our democracy and national fabric are underwritten by the peace and unity we wake up to every day.

To sustain these, we cannot gamble with presidential security because if we are weak on the tasks undertaken by the best-trained people in the land, we will probably not achieve much in other spheres.

We simply do not want another “minor incident’ around the President, now and forever!     BY THE STAR