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By:
Alphonce Shiundu | |||||||||
| Posted:
Apr,03-2015 19:33:34
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Kenya: Opposition leader Raila Odinga has renewed calls for dialogue in the fight against terror and given the government a blank cheque to employ 'all strategies' to tame the Somalia-based Al Shabaab militants. He said the government must do everything in its power to protect its people. "We have spoken in the past about war against terror, we still repeat the message which we conveyed to the government the other time, that there is need for us to come together to dialogue and agree on a strategy on how to deal with this thing," he said yesterday. He added: "We are in full support of the government in whatever actions being taken to deal with this emergency." Addressing journalists at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) shortly after visiting 22 students nursing gunshot wounds, Raila steered clear of politics and said the time had come for Kenyans to unite and support the administration of President Uhuru Kenyatta. "It is one of those times that we must come together as a nation... just like we did during the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, there is no government and there is no opposition. We are all Kenyans. We must stand together to deal with this tragedy," the opposition leader said. He said he shared the pain of parents and students affected by the tragedy at the Garissa University College. "We really feel for the parents, we condole with all of them, we say pole!" the former Prime Minister said at a news conference at the Accident and Emergency section of the country's largest referral hospital. Raila, who has in the past faulted government's strategies and whose Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) went to court and successfully fought some oppressive clauses on security laws, said Kenyans must not give up. "It has already happened, but we must not give up. This is a war against terrorism and it requires the concerted efforts of all our people and the international community. As CORD we stand with the people of Kenya and we urge the international community to give whatever support they can in dealing with this emergency," he said. He was full of praise for the police and the military in their response against the militants. "This is not a time for blame-game to say who did what and who did not do what, that is for another time. These are extraordinary times which also call for extraordinary measures," said Raila, who was flanked by Senators Johnstone Muthama (Machakos) and James Orengo (Siaya). Asked what he thought about President Kenyatta's alleged flouting of the court order thus cancelling recruitment of 10,000 police officers and ordering the recruits to report to the police training college, Raila skirted around the issue. "'There are ways and means of dealing with court issues, we don't want to deal with legal issues now. But they needed to have been recruited much earlier. Court suspending recruitment did not stop them from recruiting, but it is not time for blame game," he said. He added: "That is their way of dealing with it and we don't want to appear to be undermining, we will therefore support any measures that they take to deal with this very serious situation." Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, who was at the hospital, said the Ministry of Interior had set up a centre at Nyayo Stadium to help people trace their relatives, who might have died, rescued or hospitalised as a result of the attack. "We are waiting for our colleagues to update us on the situation in Garissa," said Dr Macharia. | |||||||||
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