As the country marks 10 years since the deadly terror attack at the Westgate Mall, Westlands in Nairobi, the government has said it has made notable progress towards averting terror attacks in the nation.
Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo said that the government has been steadfast in ensuring that the security sector has been bolstered to ensure the safety of Kenyans.
“The aftermath served as a testament to our collective strength and resilience, and taught us invaluable lessons on vigilance, preparedness, emergency response and the importance of never lowering our guard against any threat to our public security and safety,” said Omollo in a statement on Thursday.
“Subsequently, we are progressively enhancing our capacity through the recruitment of more security personnel, establishment of formed units and elite squads, advanced training programs for our officers, and bolstered firepower as envisioned in the Police Equipment Modernization Programme.”
PS Omollo further affirmed that Kenya is still on the quest to secure global partnerships to permanently triumph over terror.
“Our end goal is to sustain the highest level of surveillance along our borders and covert/overt security operations across the country and neutralize the enemy before he strikes,” he said.
“This approach has yielded tremendous results in terms of the number of foiled terror attacks targeted at us.”
He also paid tribute to the Westage attack victims and honoured the men in uniform who have lost their lives in the line of duty while protecting Kenyans.
“Forever, our hearts remain heavy with the memories of those we lost, and today we remember them and stand in solemn solidarity with their grieving families, sharing in the weight of their unimaginable loss.”
The four-day incident which occurred in 2013 claimed 67 lives and scores injured.
Two suspects of the attack were found guilty on October 30, 2020, and sentenced to 18 years in prison for helping al Shabaab gunmen involved in the attack.
Mohamed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa were sentenced to 18 years on each of two charges, to be served concurrently.
Abdi was given an additional 15-year jail sentence for possessing materials promoting terrorism.
A third defendant, Liban Abdullah Omar, was acquitted in the trial, which concluded on October 7.
He was abducted by a group of gunmen a day later after being released from custody and his whereabouts are still unknown.
The three defendants — all ethnic Somalis, two of whom are Kenyan citizens — were accused of assisting the attackers.
