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Two years after the Westgate Mall attack, security in Nairobi is tight, but life will never be the same
Guards wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying heavy rifles hang around the entrance to Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Once you’re inside, there are even more uniformed guards – these ones frisk shoppers and check their handbags.
It will be the safest mall in the world, said an employee from private Israeli company International Reserve Group when the mall reopened two months ago.
Today will mark the two-year anniversary of the start of the four-day attack by Somali extremist group al-Shabaab on the mall, which left 67 people dead and 175 injured. The attack on the mall, allegedly planned with the help of “white widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, who once lived in South Africa, has permanently changed life in Kenya’s capital city.
Strict security features are everywhere, and after the attack by al-Shabaab on Garissa University College in April, many Kenyans believe the heavy security is here to stay.
In Nairobi, you cannot enter a supermarket or a takeaway restaurant without going through a metal detector. At high-end venues, the security is even tighter.
Before you even get to the Intercontinental Hotel in central Nairobi, you have to pass through two locked gates, and luggage goes through an X-ray scanner. At the hotel entrance, there is yet another search point.
Despite their security fears, hundreds of shoppers queued up at Westgate Mall when it was reopened with great fanfare in July.
Some shops, like the Artcaffe’s terrace area where people were enjoying brunch when the first shots were fired, have not yet reopened.
But at a spectacle shop on the ground floor, sales assistant Jones Wanambuko is back at work again. She was there during the attack two years ago and was trapped in the mall for two and a half hours before she escaped with colleagues through a basement fire exit.
“We first thought they were thieves coming to Barclays [bank], so we had to hide ourselves here. But when we realised that it was not a bank robbery, we had to escape,” she said.
Every morning before she enters the mall, she says a quick prayer. “My family isn’t scared for me. They told me to always pray when I enter here,” she said. “After the attack, I used to panic, but now it is okay.”
The attack began at 12.30pm on a busy Saturday. Up to 15 gunmen gained access to the mall and began to indiscriminately kill shoppers. One eyewitness said the terrorists threw hand grenades at shoppers and staff like they were throwing maize to chickens. What followed was an 80-hour siege.
Wanambuko talked to her parents and friends to help her get over the trauma. Now, it’s almost back to business as usual.
“A few people are coming back, but many say they are scared. Business is not bad. Our clients are coming back,” she said.
However, some Kenyans still cannot face going to the mall.
Kevin Mwachiro, a communications officer for a nongovernmental organisation who used to be a regular at the mall and who knew some of those killed, said the memory of the dead had not been honoured.
“It was where we used to hang out. It was a nice place to be. It took me a long time to walk past there again,” he said.
“When the mall reopened, I didn’t celebrate. There is nothing in the mall to commemorate the fallen people. Some people say the opening of the shopping centre is a show of strength, but they should put up a plaque, or even just make a space for people to light candles. Then people can move on,” he said.
At the reopening event, Nairobi governor Evans Kidero said it was a sign of Kenyans’ resilience.
“It shows we will not be intimidated by these criminals and terrorists. We will fight back. We will lead normal lives,” he said.
Koen Toonen, who works for the UN in Nairobi, said his attitude to Kenya changed after the Westgate attack. He left the city after he was robbed in his home.
Toonen said there were many questions about the attack that remained unanswered, not least of which was the question surrounding the alleged looting by members of the security forces who were in the mall for four days.
The commission of inquiry promised by President Uhuru Kenyatta to investigate the attack and the security operation that followed had also not materialised.
“Why is nobody asking any questions?” Toonen asked.
Even though al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, nobody has been prosecuted so far, and the names of the four attackers who were killed by security forces at the scene have not been released.
There were also reports in the local media suggesting that Kenya’s intelligence agency knew about plans for the attack before it happened.
Toonen was sitting inside Artcaffe when the attack began.
“There was an explosion in the street, and then shooting into the terrace. I saw smoke, and glass shattered,” he said.
He was fortunate enough to escape after about 20 minutes, but a colleague was trapped in the Nakumatt supermarket for more than four hours.
Toonen said despite the increased security in Kenya, he still didn’t feel safe there.
“Security is more present than ever before, but what do you do if people start shooting? You see security guards and police, and you trust no one.”
