Majority Leader Aden Duale labelled ‘terrorist’ as MPs condemn Garissa attack

An MP Tuesday sensationally claimed Majority Leader Aden Duale was in the know about the Al-Shabaab terror attack on the Garissa University College.

In a stormy debate in the House on the state of insecurity in the country, Patrick Makau (Mavoko) said Duale (Garissa Township) ought to be interrogated, and “his links with the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group investigated”. Speaking in the House, which grants members immunity from prosecution for slanderous utterances, Mr Makau called Duale a ‘terrorist’ and asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to relieve him of his duties as Majority Leader in the National Assembly.

“He must know that I am calling him a terrorist. I ask the President to sack him with immediate effect. I am a victim of the attacks. We can’t continue to suffer because of one person who cannot be taken to jail,” said Makau amid shouts from the rest of the MPs. Before he mentioned Duale on the floor of the House, Mr Makau claimed the terrorists had spent the night in a hotel associated with “a high-ranking member of this House” and added that the same MP had called for negotiations with Al-Shabaab. None of the MPs rose to rebutt his claims. Duale was not in the House.

Fred Outa (Nyando) gave Duale a two-week ultimatum to reveal the names of the terrorists. “If Duale is not able to reveal those names, he should be arrested. He must also step aside as the Majority Leader,” said Outa.

Irungu Kang’ata (Kiharu), who moved the emergency motion to discuss insecurity in the country, rallied his colleagues to allocate the police service more funds to expand its tactical unit – the elite Recce squad – that helped eliminate the university attackers. Kang’ata said there should be an armoury with specialised personnel in all counties to combat terrorists.

“We need to give them more money and guns, and even buy them special aircraft to make sure they can deal with the terror threats in any part of the country,” he said. The MP expressed concern over what he described as failure by the military to deal with the militants, who he said posed an external security threat to the country.
National Security Committee Chairman Asman Kamama (Tiaty) and Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau supported the Government’s call for closure of the Daadab refugee camp, which holds not less than 350,000 refugees.