Kenyan Pastors Ask for Firearms in Midst of Al-Shabaab War

Last week in Mombasa, Kenya, gunmen shot and killed George Karidhimba Muriki, assistant pastor of the Maximum Revival Ministries Church, outside of the Mvita Primary School. Those who killed the pastor are believed to be members of Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-allied Islamist terror group based in neighboring Somalia.

In the wake of this attack, Kenyan pastors have publicly called for the right to carry firearms to defend themselves against “religious opponents.” This request for arms is not new as Bishop Lambert Mbela of the Redeemed Gospel Church lobbied for the same cause in 2013 after the killing of two other pastors. This time in 2015, MacDonald Kitwa and Jeremiah Goodison, two other Kenyan church members, joined Mbela to meet with Mombasa Deputy County Commissioner, Salim Mahmoud, to discuss the gun issue. But Alice Wahome, a member of the Administration and National Security Committee in Kenya’s National Assembly, rejected the pastors’ plea to bear arms citing a likely increase in lawlessness throughout Kenya as the reason.

It is unclear how this “right to bear arms” debate will end, but it is apparent that religious fighting in Kenya will only intensify. The militant Al-Shabaab group has waged war against the militaries of Kenya, Somalia, and the African Union for years now. The Islamic extremist group has political ambitions for Kenya, but no matter what the political situation, the religious motivation will remain.

Kenya became a more central focal point of this conflict at the beginning of this decade when its military starting training Somali troops to combat Al-Shabaab’s presence in Somalia. Later, Kenyan troops crossed the border to meet with Somali military officials and sent personnel to directly assist in Somalia’s struggle with Al-Shabaab. As a result, the Islamic extremist group has declared a jihad against Kenyan authorities and those Kenyans who are not Muslim and would not adhere to the imposition of Sharia law.

What makes this conflict more difficult for Kenya is that about 10% of its population is Muslim, some of who are influential clerics actively helping Al-Shabaab. Some of these individuals preach Al-Shabaab’s talking points that they are right to wage this war against Kenya and to use terror tactics and other violence against civilians. Many young Muslims in Kenya are being indoctrinated in this way and are at least sympathetic, if not actively helping, Al-Shabaab. Beyond religious zealotry, Al-Shabaab found a simpler way to reach local Muslims: money. They have bribed young Muslims in poor areas to join their cause.

Thus, Kenya is facing both an internal and external security problem. There is the threat on the other side of the border in Somalia where Al-Shabaab is based (and, of course, coming into Kenya to carry out attacks), and a homegrown problem where the substantial-enough upcoming generation of Kenyan Muslims are being radicalized. Bribing those Muslims who live in poor neighborhoods does not hurt in this endeavor, either. Kenya is facing a complex situation, and unless the authorities can better combat terror, locals may seek their own means to defend themselves like the Kenyan pastors’ request for arms.