Insecurity. The undercurrent to our lives. Whether or not we’ve ever felt secure is a different question. Certainly, insecurity is the “normal” state of affairs across northern Kenya. None of us “down south” have ever been free from fears of ordinary criminality.

But this is different. This sense of the state having lost the plot. This visceral realisation of old commentary on the state’s loss of the monopoly over violence. In just one year.

Nobody speaks of the current scale of displacement around Garissa.

We do speak of Westgate. The confusion between the different security services deployed to the scene. The looting of the bars and stores in Westgate by those same security services. The failure to follow up on the promise of a presidential commission of inquiry. The absence of answers beyond generalities.

We speak too of Usalama Watch. Tellingly, its earlier, official, appellation was Operation Sanitise Eastleigh. The executive has conflicting stories as to its objectives.

One story has it that intelligence linked attacks in Nairobi to Eastleigh and the refugee camps. Another story has it that this is part of the executive’s irritation with the lack of burden-sharing around Kenya’s refugee caseload.

The differing stories do not change one constant — the security services’ lack of repentance at how Usalama Watch was effected and how it is publicly viewed. They are unapologetic. Usalama Watch is ongoing, now beyond Nairobi.

We also speak of Lamu — Mpeketoni and its surroundings. The anger and displacement of it residents. The allegations of un-acted upon intelligence.

The odd apportioning of blame by the executive not to Al Shabaab but to the opposition. The conspiratorial apportioning of blame by the opposition to the executive.

The army’s deployment on Kenyan territory. Followed up by its deployment in Likoni. The apportioning of blame in Likoni is also to the opposition.

The attacks continue. The deployments and operations continue. Yet there are no answers. Everyone theorises as to the apparently sudden sense of insecurity.

Youth unemployment, especially among men. Historical grievances. Blowback from counter-terrorism efforts and the army’s deployment in Somalia. None of these theories help. At the end of the day, we still have no answers we can rely on. We still have no sense that the state’s in control.

The executive and the security services think the heavy hand is all. Unconstitutional legislation is passed thinning the powers of the National Police Service Commission over the Inspector-General and placing those powers back in the hands of the executive.

Big billboards and closed circuit television cameras dotted around the central business district are cynically viewed as just new avenues for shady state procurement deals.

The fact of the matter is this. We aren’t serious. We never have been. We’d thought security sector reform had to be both about accountability and performance.

Assuming a basic level of performance was our mistake. There is no accountability. There was never any performance. No wonder we are all afraid. We should be.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, covering East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. This column is written in her personal capacity.