‘We don’t need anyone’s mandate to protect ourselves’

The minister spoke to the EastAfrican on Kenya’s heightened involvement in Somalia

On whose mandate is Kenya proposing to intervene in Somalia?
Kenya does not need anybody’s mandate to protect itself. Kenya has a legitimate right as a sovereign state to protect its strategic interests.

These includes having peace along its borders, peaceful neighbours, its right to have peaceful engagement with its trading partners by having its trade routes open and clear. Now they are threatened and Kenya has the right to act.

Is the United States pushing Kenya to intervene in Somalia the same way they did Ethiopia?
No, Kenya cannot and will not be pushed by anybody. Our inalienable right to protect ourselves needs no prompting from anybody.

But the US is asking Kenya to prevent airlines operating here from ferrying suspected terrorist to Somalia. Does the country have the capacity to do this?
Again that is not true. Kenya itself directed the airline operators to Somalia to find a way of vetting their passengers.

There has been unconfirmed information that some of the people boarding flights in Kenya to Somalia are mercenaries going to fight on behalf of Al-Shabaab.

Is this not stifling freedom and interfering with private enterprises?

Of course, there are many ways of going about it. There are business people who regularly travel to Somalia who are well known.

It will be a question of suspicious people with questionable backgrounds who will be scrutinised and not the well known business people who travel to Somalia regularly.

By getting directly involved in Somalia, don’t you think the government could, in the process, antagonise Kenyans of Somali origin and the Muslims in general?

To the contrary, all Muslim leaders want a peaceful Somalia.

In fact, some of them have been uncomfortable with the lukewarm position Kenya has always taken and have wanted us to do more about Somalia.

Many of them, whom I relate with closely, have asked Kenya to do more than we are doing currently.

Talking of lukewarm, Kenya since 2004 been accused of having an incoherent policy towards Somalia, leaving Ethiopia to take charge. Is this a new chapter?
Kenya is a very committed regional player and actor.

When Ethiopia went into Somalia, Kenya and Igad countries sat and agreed that it was a necessary step.

Uganda and Burundi have troops in Somalia while Kenya does not have any. However, Kenya has been in the lead in urging the region to take more robust steps towards Somalia through Igad and the AU.