Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia poked holes in President Uhuru’s government response to the Garissa terror attack, accusing the regime of mishandling the situation which has led to the death of over 300 students.
Kimemia, who is among the big vegetables suspended recently following corruption allegations, said he is better suited to handle the security docket, currently being held by Gen. Joseph Nkaissery. He was speaking after denying several corruption allegations amounting to sh 1 billion detailed in the ‘list of shame’ which forced him to ‘step aside’ from government.
“Having been in charge of security . . . I think we need to do more. Nothing like this ever happened when I was in charge of security. We don’t need to keep losing our young people like this. We need people in public service to act on it. For those in security offices, they can fall back on us because we are still here to serve the country. We still have institutional memory in this,” Kimemia said.
However, Kimemia was the face of Westgate incompetence where officers lost lives exchanging fire, and where terrorists cornered customers for hours on end.
It is soon after Westgate that Kimemia was stripped of the powerful position of Head of Civil Service and current holder, Joseph Kinyua, appointed. He was accused of sitting on actionable intelligence, as he chaired the National Security Advisory Committee.
Enraged President Uhuru had then lambasted the trio of Kimemia and Iringo and former NIS Director Michael Gichangi of running a ‘parallel government’.
“Some of you think there are two centres of power. I am the President and there is also the Deputy President. There is no other centre of power,†the President riled.
A source at OP had confided in the Standard that Kimemia had been thoroughly briefed on potential attack on Westgate but did nothing. In fact, it was revealed that President Uhuru did not get briefs of the NSAC even as NIS maintained they gave out intelligence to office of the President.
“The information on the Westgate attack was given but it did not go anywhere. The NIS had informed them what vehicles the Al-Shabaab would use and at what time they would attack. Kimaiyo was also said to have been there and that is why NIS keeps saying they gave information to top officials at OP and police,†sai the source.
The NIS Director would later be forced out, Kimemia demoted and Iringo moved to ministry of Defence. Uhuru appointed army man Wachira and Monica Kagwanja (wife of Professor Peter Kagwanja) to NIS and secretary of Interior.
Later, Uhuru sacked Interior CS Ole Lenku after another terror attack in Mandera and ‘retired’ IG David Kimaiyo. Lenku’s whereabouts are unknown while Kimaiyo immediately landed a job, also from the president, as Chair of Kanya Airports Authority.
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