Here we go again. President William Ruto has decided that after 15 years of “security concerns,” the border with Somalia is suddenly ready for business this April. He calls it “mutual prosperity,” but those of us living in the real Nairobi know it’s just another PR script written for international donors. They tried this stunt last year and had to tuck their tails when the bombs started going off again. Now, they’re telling us “heavy deployment” will save us, as if the police haven’t been “heavily deployed” since 2011 while illicit weapons and contraband flowed across that line like water.

Let’s talk about that infamous border wall - the ultimate Kenyan comedy. We spent $35 million to build a measly 10 kilometers of wire fence before the project was “suspended” because someone realized the money had grown legs and walked away. If a 680km border can be “secured” by 10km of wire and a few optimistic tweets, then I’m the Queen of Sheba. Opening these crossings now isn’t an act of strength; it’s an admission that we’ve given up on the perimeter and decided to let the “businessmen” and their smuggled goods move through the front door instead of the side.

The timing is almost as suspicious as the TikTok algorithm gaming we’ve seen lately. While Ruto dominates our feeds with “success stories” and diplomatic wins, the Hiraal Institute is shouting from the rooftops that Al-Shabab is actually regaining territory in Somalia. They’ve played the Mogadishu government like a fiddle, taking back central areas while our leaders in Nairobi pretend the “militant threat” is a thing of the past. It’s the same pattern we explored in TikTok Algorithm Kenya: How ‘Ruto’ Keywords and Controversy Dominate Feeds - where the optics of progress are far more important than the reality of our safety.

Asking the residents of Mandera to “join the battle” and help the government combat these “useless” criminals is the height of government audacity. These are people who have watched their neighbors get pulled off buses and executed while the “Big Men” in Nairobi sit behind three layers of concrete and private security. Now, the President visits for a photo op and asks the victims to play soldier against a group that even the African Union force hasn’t been able to dismantle in a decade. It’s a classic move: if the border opening fails, it’s the locals’ fault for not being “patriotic” enough to stop a suicide bomber with their bare hands.

We remember Westgate. We remember Garissa University. We remember DusitD2. Those weren’t just “security assessments” on a piece of paper; they were blood on the floor of our malls and classrooms. Reopening the border while the enemy is “growing in strength” according to every credible report isn’t brave; it’s delusional. But I suppose in the world of modern Kenyan politics, as long as the trade numbers look good on a spreadsheet, the rest of us are just acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit of a regional “legacy.”