Resign if soldiers looted, ex-officers tell Chief of Defence Forces Julius Karangi

Kenya defence forces

Kenya defence forces

Saturday, October 26th 2013

By KIBIWOTT KOROSS

Chief of Defence Forces John Karangi should resign if allegations of looting by the army at the Westgate shopping mall are proved true, former military officers have said.

They also want all soldiers captured on CCTV cameras carrying plastic bags court martialled and the loot returned. On Saturday of September 21, at around 4pm, the first team from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Special Regiment made up of 40 Ranger Strike Force, 30 Special Forces and 20 Parachute Battalion, was deployed to Westgate Mall.

The officers are later captured carrying plastic bags from Nakumatt supermarket, their contents unknown. “This is the worst of what I have heard of our military,” said retired Army Major John Seii, “Something must be wrong with our soldiers. I blame the top command for their failures.”

He said the military is always a serious organisation where such cases of indiscipline are not expected.

He added: “Military carry out instructions and here we have to find if there were any instructions to loot and those who participated should be arrested. You cannot rob the same people you want to free.”

Generals decorated

Mr Seii said when military triumphs in a war, the generals are the ones who are decorated.

He said: “This should be the same in this case. The generals have failed and they should take blame. Those mentioned should step down to redeem the face of our military.”

Intelligence sources say the bags contained cash emptied from cash trays at Nakumatt. This happened at a time the suspected terrorists had all the time, even conducting prayers inside the mall.

The footage opened a public condemnation, with Kenyans taking on social media to mock the army carrying plastic bags during the recent Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nyayo Stadium. The officers are also alleged to have stolen phones and beer as they conducted the operation.

The officer said the police could have leaked the CCTV footage to the media to express their anger against KDF who took over operations at the mall from them. The looting happened as Kenyans were glued to their television sets awaiting victory over the terrorists by KDF. “That is the worst thing (looting) the military can do. Gen Karangi should have resigned by this time since everything indicate the soldiers did loot,” said Charles Chesire, a retired army major Njeru Kathangu, a retired Kenya Air Force Captain who later resigned to join politics and human rights activism said Kenyans would not forgive the army for what they did.

“Military is all about discipline and command,” he said, “What we are seeing as CCTV images capturing our army with paper bags is not what they were expected of.”

He said the team’s commandant should be held answerable for what the army did. He said had it been a fight between an enemy and the army conquered, such scenario is employed to intimidate the enemy.

When US forces captured Baghdad in 2003, their army watched as locals went on a looting spree in major towns of Iraq that according to him was a ploy to intimidate Saddam’s supporters. Mr Kathangu said that could not be applied in the Westagate Mall scenario since those who were affected were innocent businessmen and shoppers. Kathangu said: “The army had gone to help free those held hostage and secure the building but in this case, as things look, the army added salt to injury by stealing from the shop owners. It is very wrong and I think the Chief of Staff Karangi is seeing the reaction of Kenyans.”

Betrayed Kenyans

He said the army had betrayed Kenyans and called for disciplinary action to be taken against those who had participated in the operation. “When sent to war, the army are not even allowed to kill their enemies but arrest them as prisoners of war. Our military discipline is down.” A former military officer who is serving as a military attaché in a neighbouring country said the incident had portrayed the military in bad light and washed away the confidence Kenyans had on them.

“You see we have been having respect wherever we go but now, our colleagues ask us what happened to our army which has always been rated as the best and most disciplined in East Africa,” said the retired army major who sought anonymity because he is not allowed to comment on military matters, “It is shameful…This is not the army I used to serve.” But the military has denied the looting claims, with Karangi saying soldiers captured on CCTV with plastic bags were carrying water.

“They (soldiers) only picked up water at Nakumatt to quench their thirst, with authority from their commanders,” Karangi, who was accompanied by Defence Secretary Raychelle Omamo told the joint committees on National Security and Defence of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

He said the footage that showed KDF officers ransacking safes in jewellery stores at the mall were undertaking a procedure he termed as “sanitisation to ensure their safety.” Initially, the KDF had been praised for their work before the looting claims were made. “When in war zones soldiers always carry enough water,” said Mr Chesire. A week ago, the MPs exonerated the military from blame, citing preliminary investigations.

National Security Chairman Asman Kamama and his Defence and Foreign Relations counterpart Ndungu Githinji thrashed claims that business owners had lost property to looting, something they claimed was a ploy to get compensation from insurance firms.

“Not all Kenyans are as forthright as you may like to believe and some will use the cover of looting to seek compensation from insurance firms,” Mr Githinji said. When contacted later following the CCTV footage, Defence Secretary Rachel Omamo also denied the looting claims and urged those who had evidence to present them even as the area had been cordoned off and military blocked people 300 meters away from the mall.

“It should be noted that KDF came to this operation with a history of outstanding performance in both internal and external operations” said Ms Omamo.