Thursday, November 14, 2013
By Geoffrey Mosoku
Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 30, 2013.
Nairobi, Kenya: Majority of Kenyans believe that the September 21 Westgate terror attack could have been prevented, according to a survey by Ipsos Synovate.
The survey, whose report was released Thursday, indicates that two- thirds of Kenyans or 67 percent believe the attack that led to death of 67 people could have been foiled.
When asked if they thought the attack could have been prevented, 22 percent of respondents said it was inevitable while another 11 percent said they didn’t know.
The survey carried out between 1st and 9th November, with 2060 respondents evenly distributed across the country also issues a harsh verdict on the country’s security agencies.
The poll established that 40 percent of Kenyans believe that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was culpable for failing to thwart the attack staged by Al-Shaabab insurgents.
Another 24 percent believe that the Kenya Police should be held responsible while 5 percent each for President Uhuru Kenyatta, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Lenku and Immigration officials contributed to the failure to avert the terror attack.
The survey also rates Lenku, Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) as the worst performers in handling the crisis, while the Kenya Red Cross, Individual citizens and local media were rated highly in the way the reacted to the incident.
Red Cross was rated at 96 percent; ordinary citizens at 94 percent, Safaricom at 91 percent while the local media got 90 percent approval. Lenku was rated as the worst performer at 43 percent, followed by Kimaiyo at 50 percent and KDF at 53 percent.
International Media, President Uhuru, private security guards, Recce Squad of GSU got approval ratings at 80 percent, 74 percent, 72 percent and 70 percent respectively.
When asked what they thought was the main reason why the attack succeeded, 46 percent blamed weak or failure of intelligence systems while another 19 percent attributed it to corruption in the Immigration department.
Another 16 percent opined that the attack was perpetrated due to poor or insufficient cooperation between the NIS and police.
However, the continued operation of KDF in Somalia under the Amisom got a boost as 60 percent of respondent indicated they support the military to stick in Somalia, while another 37 percent said the army should be withdrawn. 3 percent did not have any preference.
Three quarters of those polled or 75 percent indicated their support for refugees camps to be closed completely as a way of boosting the internal security while another 19 percent do not support the closure.