January 15th, 2019 marks another day that will live in infamy as its counterparts 3 years prior as well as 21st September 2013 ( Westgate Mall attack). On this day, a herd of cowards stormed upon a peaceful people going about their daily routines and unleashed mayhem and terror at the DusitD2 Hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya. The dust has since settled and now begins the painful process of burying our dead, consoling the injured and condoling the bereaved.The securing of evidence by law enforcement and following leads which may identify other suspects or masterminds is well underway but what is crucial is here is that the attack however ugly, the ensuing frantic and frenetic chaos as well as the economic losses will not deter a resillient nation from picking up the pieces and rising again.

The attack was definitely a part of an ongoing campaign by Al-Shabab militants to intimidate and prove a point by inflicting pain on innocent people who have no dog in their fight with the Western World. The cowardly response while claiming responsibility illustrates this shallow and pervasive way of thinking. While any 10 year old with a good Civics lesson, would understand that Kenya does not dictate United States foreign policy, these cowards chose to respond to their perceived misgivings with an attack on the innocent for what they termed as the witless remarks of U.S. president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as the capital of Israel.

Today as the nation reels, we must remain vigilant and resolute against these acts of barbarism in the name of religion. I must point out that these cowards do not represent Islam because these acts are in fact forbidden by the same religion in which name, they use to launch their pernicious and shameless evils. Kenya has a right to defend herself from these third rate tyrants and we must be right every time, because they only need to be right once. The best antidote to fight these evils is resilience and a relentless offense against them in their hideouts and I am confident the same courage the 4 million people in Nairobi showed by going about their businesses hours after the situation was contained by law enforcement will carry on.

A united Kenya and her allies will never be defeated by these agents of terror. We are better than they are and these violent extremists must be countered at every angle. In the meantime, let us pay our respects to those who lost their lives, say a prayer for those still in recovery and then flex our military might.