Comment on Kenya: 1 year after attack, guards still unarmed

Kenya: 1 year after attack, guards still unarmed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — David Odhiambo was one of the blue-uniformed security guards tasked with protecting Nairobi's Westgate Mall one year ago when four heavily armed terrorists attacked. Though, as a result of the Westgate attack, new contingents of armed security forces have been stationed at major malls. There are schools, there are hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, open air markets, said Matt Bryden, the former head of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea and an expert on al-Shabab. Nearly 50 guards have died in armed attacks this year alone, said Isaac Andabwa, the secretary general of the Kenya National Private Security Workers Union. With grenade, bomb and gunfire attacks increasing in Kenya, guards should be trained in explosives and surveillance and be given bullet proof vests and possibly guns, he said. After surgery to remove the bullets from his head, he stayed there for two weeks and President Uhuru Kenyatta visited him. Five weeks after Kenya's worst-ever terror attack, his employer, Securex, wanted their $190-a-month security guard back on the job, Odhiambo said. Despite the danger, the long hours and the low pay, Kenyans clamor to get security guard jobs, Odhiambo said, because there are so few job opportunities available.

 

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