Monday September 17, 2018
Leaders from Garissa have called on the national government to intensify security along the border with Somalia that the al Shabaab militants use to enter the country.
Garissa governor Ali Korane, senator Yusuf Haji, woman rep Annab Gure and Ijara MP Sophia Abdinoor were reacting to Friday’s incident where two people were killed when suspected al Shabaab militants attacked a Garissa-bound bus in Sangailu.
Witnesses said the gunmen stopped the bus, ordered everyone out and demanded their IDs. They separated three non-locals and asked them to recite sections of the Quran.
Two of them who failed to recite the Shahada and Suratul Fatiha were shot and killed. A teacher who succeeded to recite was spared.
DRIVING A WEDGE
Haji and Korane condemned the murders, saying it was disheartening for innocent Kenyans to lose their lives.They spoke at a wedding in Garissa town on Saturday.
“These militants want to drive a wedge between Kenyans on grounds of faith and ethnicity. As leaders, we will not allow this to happen. Kenyans from other parts of this country have been part of our lives for decades and that will remain,” Korane said.
“This attack and many others that have happened before across the region are discriminatory and are calculated to create tension between people of different faiths,” the governor added.
Haji said the murders were not religious.
“The people of Ijara have all along been known for their loyalty and ones who have always maintained peace and cooperated with the security apparatuses. As leaders, we will continue working with the residents and the security apparatuses to ensure that we completely eradicate this group from our midst,” the senator said.
Haji said the local leadership will next week hold a meeting to strategise on how to mobilise the residents “to see how we can completely eradicate these bad elements in our society”.