Levy

In February 2025, during a presidential visit to the North Eastern region, President Ruto announced the removal of the long standing mandatory identification checks. These checks had existed since independence specifically to stop Somali militant groups from obtaining Kenyan citizenship and launching attacks on Kenyan citizens. The move faced strong opposition from various Kenyan leaders and security experts who cautioned that it would leave northern communities more vulnerable to terrorism. The government rejected those warnings and maintained that the people seeking identification documents were already Kenyans. Several months later, residents of Mandera town and local county officials publicly stated that a foreign militia known as Somaliland forces had taken control of the town and turned a primary school into a training camp. Once again the government dismissed the reports as baseless. In January 2026 the administration opened the Kenya Somalia border after more than fifteen years of closure. The late President Mwai Kibaki had shut the border following the first major wave of Al Shabaab attacks in his second term, and President Uhuru Kenyatta had kept it closed for the same security reasons. Ruto ended that policy three years into his term. The consequences became clear yesterday when Al Shabaab fighters ambushed police vehicles and civilians traveling along the Mandera road in broad daylight. Eight people were killed and video footage of the attack spread widely on social media. Members of Parliament from the county are now urging the government to address the increasing Al Shabaab operations in the area. The same leaders who earlier celebrated the border opening and said Ruto deserved praise for making people feel fully Kenyan have fallen silent. They once claimed the decision protected their communities, yet they remain quiet while residents fear an uprising that could force original inhabitants to abandon their homes as outsiders with hostile intentions seek to take Mandera. The Ministries of Interior and Defence have offered no public response while Al Shabaab continues daylight attacks on Kenyan soil. Leaders such as Duale, who previously supported the border reopening with the phrase Ruto Tutam, are nowhere to be heard. The original Cushitic communities of the region must recognize that these politicians appear only when they need votes and disappear when lives are at risk.