‘I’ll only heal when I meet Dusit victims’ families’: mother of terrorist behind 2019 attack speaks

On the 15th of January 2019, terrorists struck Nairobi’s up-market Riverside area, killing 21 people.

Just over 700 others were lucky to escape with injuries. Four years later, business is back to normal at Dusit D2 with enhanced security at the complex.

Survivors of the attack continue to rebuild their lives while the government continues to enhance measures to counter terrorism. In Isiolo County, we meet Sakina Mariam; she is the mother of the late Ali Salim Gichunge, a man identified as one of the attackers.

Sakina was arrested and later set free by a Nairobi court after the court dismissed charges of failing to disclose to police information on the whereabouts of her son.

Mariam says the last time she saw her son was in May 2015 when he left home while she was away on a trip. She was told that he had received a scholarship to study religious education.

“Nilifika nyumbani kutoka harusi madada zake wakaniambia ali alienda nikauliza alienda lini wakaniambia mum uliondoka thursday ali alikufuata nyuma saturday nikawaluiza aliwaambia ameenda akasema ile scholarship yake ya kusomea dini imekuja nikawauliza aliwaambia ameenda wapi,” she says.

She would later talk to her son after two days, and he told her that he was in Mombasa where he had secured a new job.

“Akaniambia mimi sikuji nimepata kazi nikamuuliza umepata kazi aje baada ya siku mbili akaniambia ile scholarship yangu imekuja lakini nimepata kazi niko mombasa lakini bado nitaendelea na masomo,” says Mariam.

His phone was switched off for close to a month before he made another call in June 2015 with a number that started with +252, which is the Somalia calling code.

That call broke her heart and she immediately reported to the police.

“Kitu ilisababisha ni ripoti ni simu alinipigia mpya nikaona 252 hiyo number nikaona si ya kenya nikakimbia kuripoti pahali niliripoti wakasema sawa ngoja ukipigiwa simu ingine utuletee majibu ikawa akapiga tena ikawa vile vile … nilijiunga na kikundi cha wazazi ambao watoto wao walitorokea kule na tukawa tunapewa himizo hata na county commissioner.”

The slain terrorist last made a call to the family in 2017 before going silent only for the news of the attack to hit the family two years later.

Gichunge’s elder sister, Amina Mohamed, was the first to recognise her brother from the CCTV footage and the story that was being aired by local and international media houses.

“The first video ilikuwa ina circulate ilikuwa ya reuters so vile niliona hiyo video nilikuwa na butterflies sikutaka kuregister ni ndugu yangu nilikuwa na positivity si yeye, usiku saa moja nilipata habari ni yeye kwa citizen kwa sabbat mtangazaji alisema alituma pesa na ikaleta jina ali salim gichunge,” says Mohamed.

Gicgunge’s mother adds; “Saida alinipigia simu nikamuuliza iko shida ni nini akaniambia amina amesema ali ni mhusika wa ku attack hiyo hoteli iko Nairobi hapo kwa hapo nikaanza nduru amina akapiga akaniambia nikamuuliza amejua aje akaniambia nimemwona mwili na hata vile anatembea ni yeye vile analimb kwa sababu mguu yake imewekwa nyuma.”

The actions by her only son led to the arrest of Mariam by DCI detectives from Isiolo. Shortly after the arrest, she was arraigned in court.

“Mimi nilianza kupiga nduru kortini na nikalia sana nikauliza itafika aje mimi nishikwe niletwe mahali kama hii kwani mimi nimekosea nani, mimi sikujua mtoto aingie mahali mbaya kama hiyo ama nikubali akuje afanye jambo kama hili,” she narrates.  

For seven months, Mariam was in and out of the Langata Women’s Prison until July 5th 2019 when she was set free.

 “Kufika korti ya juu ndio judge akauliza sasa mhusika ni mama ama mtoto, kuna ule wakili anasema mama anajua kila kitu mwengine anasema hajui mimi nikasema sijui chochote judge akasema mama atawekewa aje makosa ya mtoto mwenye ni over 18 … jaji akaniambia korti hii imekuweka uhuru imekuachilia hauna mashtaka ya kujibu mimi pale nilishindwa  kuvumilia na nikamwomba mungu sana,” she says.

 But the actions of her son subsequently changed their lives in Isiolo as neighbours started shunning her family.

“Mimi kutoka hapa nifike soko ni kazi ngumu, mimi kutoka hapa mahali kuna sherehe siendi, mazishi ikitokea na ni mtu najua nikifika hivi watu wameanza story zangu, wengine wanasema mama ya gaidi mkuu.”

Mohamed says; “mara ya kwanza nililose biashara, nikalose kazi kwa sababu time yangu nyingi nilikuwa nashughulikia mama yangu, for those eight months nilikuwa nashughulikia mama yangu na dada zangu hata mtoto wangu alivyochukuliwa na akahamishwa Isiolo.”

As the stigma intensified,   Mariam and her four daughters found solace in the National Counter-Terrorism Centre which runs a rehabilitation program for families who have lost their children to violent extremism.

“NCTC wamenishikilia vizuri pia wakati tulienda nao Mombasa niliwaambia hata kama nimetengwa na jamii wakaniambia nisijali watanishikilia … nilienda nikapata wenye uchungu kama mimi na hata zaidi nikawaambia sasa vile yenu iko haina uchungu mimi yangu ni mbaya zaidi kwa sababu nyinyi mnamatarajio, mimi sina wangu alienda … hakuwa hata na starehe alikuwa mpole,” says Mariam.

Mariam, who describes herself as a victim of terrorism even though her son was the mastermind of the attack, says she will only heal once she gets a chance to meet with families that lost their loved ones.

She also wants to apologize for her son’s actions.

“Uuchungu ninalia mtoto ameuawa, mtoto ameua na jina yangu imeharibika na nina umwa na zile familia zinalia saa hizi kama wale waliachwa walemavu mimi ninalia, wale walipoteza jamii zao mimi ninalia,” she says.

“Me kivyangu sieza sema nimepona ningekuwa nimepona ningekuwa na kazi, ningekuwa na mtoto wangu, ningekuwa nimepona ningefikia wale watu ndugu yangu aliwafganyia hii kitendo niwaombe msamaha hadi pale nitawafikia ndio nitasema nimepona,” Gichunge’s sister, Mohamed, notes.

Back in Nairobi at the complex, we meet Okoth Obado, a survivor of the attack and one among the many who opted to return to his work station to the complex a month after the attack occurred.

“Part of the reason to come back the management felt that, we had to try and triumph over terror because what these guys try to do is to intimidate you, to cow you so that you succumb so coming back was important so that if we invest in fighting terror with all our might and resources as a country which we have done and we are resilient enough we should continue with life and show them you will not put us down,” says Obado.

Obado, who was in charge of over 100 members of staff when the attack happened, says he is grateful for the gallant actions of the security officers that rescued his colleagues.

“When the terrorists came to our reception they started shooting randomly it was so loud, you can imagine you’re in an enclosed place that I decided to go to the ceiling and I fell … I was 10 metres from where they were shooting and I actually had my last prayers,” he says.

Obado says he feels much safer now in the same environment but adds that there is need for Kenyans to understand how to react in a situation where there is a terror attack.

“There are three important things you need to do when there is terror, run, hide, fight but how many of us take attention actually that day I implemented what I was reading I couldn’t ran or fight so I had to hide,” he notes.

For the acting director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Rosalind Nyawira, the Dusit D2 attack was an eye opener providing crucial lessons in the fight against terrorism in the country.

“What we have done is that we have gone down to the community because this is where we should have started but the threat unfolded … we have done a lot of capacity building from religious leaders, private sector, guards because of that enlightenment people are able to tell you in a certain place something is happening and this pushed radicalisation online,” says Dr. Nyawira.

She says research has shown that lack of mentorship especially from male figures in families has been a contributing factor to the increasing number of radicalised youth.

“We are working with men especially as mentors because we have realised that the youth who have joined combat theatres actually lacked mentorship especially from male figures so you find most of them to be female headed households or families in conflict and so we brought together counsellors for the youth,” she says.

Other contributing factors that parents should watch out for before to prevent their children from being radicalised is to closely monitor their activities online and any sudden behavioural changes.

Oscar Githua, a consultant forensic psychologist, notes “perpetrators of these attacks are victims themselves, it is important for Kenyans to know that people who are radicalised and who end up to commit atrocities like this are not old, they are not like me and you, they are actually young boys and girls who are in their teenagers, who are looking for identity.”

“We have a hotline and we tell them if you see something that is our calling call tell us, if you see a child going wayward, there is a new person in the village, there is a new cleric the way he is preaching,” Nyawira adds.

These efforts, together with support from international communities, Dr. Nyawira says, will help Kenya counter terrorism which continues to evolve and cause more suffering to millions across the globe.

The US State Department on Thursday announced a 10 million-USD dollar reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of Mohamoud Abdi Aden, who is believed to be the mastermind of the Dusit D2 attack.