'They called me a chef': Governor Lenku on accusations of incompetence during Westgate attack

Lenku, then the Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS), had what would be termed as 'four days of hell' as he was the man in the middle of the four-day siege that left at least 67 people dead.

Narrating the ordeal as the man who had worn the national security's shoes, Lenku admits that he was caught unawares by the sudden bombardments of calls from all security offices including the final one which prompted him to rush to State House.

He said that former President Uhuru Kenyatta called him around midday and he had already been apprised by all security agencies on the matter, a flaw to his front because his boss was already ahead of him.

"I could tell by the tone of his voice that all was not well. I had to drop everything and hurry to State House. The unthinkable had happened," he said speaking to Daily Nation.

"He (Uhuru) gets a lot of information from all manner of sources. It could have been me, the military chief, the ministers, principal secretaries or even civilians who have direct access to the president. Therefore, it is not a misnomer that sometimes, the President is ahead of his men. Do not forget the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who deal directly with the president."

It was after holding a brief national task force meeting chaired by Uhuru, Lenku narrates, that a decision to confirm the terror attack to the nation was reached. 

He also dismissed allegations that his tenure at the Interior Ministry was a case of a good tree on the wrong soil, noting that he was the right man for the job as trusted by his boss.

"The question of my competence was rife at the time. What the public does not know is individuals appointed to these offices are not appointed anyhow, there is alot of background research, intelligence and a lot of things that happen before one is appointed," he said.

He also intimated that he had even been baptized the name "chef" owing to his culinary background from his time at Utalii College.

"Some were even calling me a chef. I was once in Utalii College and this came in handy in my later life when I went to Kajiado to look for votes and was talking to women who were impressed that I was a cook," he said.

As the nation marks the attack's 10th anniversary, Lenku says Kenya has made significant gains towards bolstering the security sector under the lessons learnt from the unfortunate attack.

"The attack paved way for new laws and legal framework to secure the country. We used the tragedy to better our situation. We had to modernise our security system in terms of better equipment, enhanced budget and creation of multi-agency teams and approach to countering insecurity," he said.

Two suspects of the attack were found guilty on October 30, 2020, and sentenced to 18 years in prison for helping al Shabaab gunmen involved in the attack.

Mohamed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa were sentenced to 18 years apiece on each of two charges, to be served concurrently.

Abdi was given an additional 15-year jail sentence for possession of materials promoting terrorism.

A third defendant, Liban Abdullah Omar, was acquitted in the trial, which concluded on October 7.

He was abducted by a group of gunmen a day later after being released from custody and his whereabouts are still unknown.

The three defendants — all ethnic Somalis, two of whom are Kenyan citizens — were accused of assisting the attackers.