Things did not go well after his statement. The following day, British Airways banned its flights to the country. 

However, Dr Murungaru was right, after all. A Cabinet colleague, Tourism and Information Minister Raphael Tuju, echoed the British and American feeling that the threat was real and that Murungaru's action was the best way to deal with it. 

Having done the painful thing, the minister should have foreseen the hostile reaction and that he would eventually pay a rather heavy price. 

But suppose he had kept quiet for the sake of his name and his job and the enemy had struck? What would his critics have said? 

We are crying because we lost Sh1 billion in tourist revenue. How many billions of shillings worth of property and how many lives would we have lost had the terrorists struck? 

As some MPs were moving from one tourist hotel to another counting empty beds, Dr Murungaru was being crowned as a hero by the American authorities for saving a bad situation. He even earned Kenya anti-terrorist equipment to be installed at major airports. 

But, apparently, the chairman of the Parliamentary Security Committee, Mr David Mwenje, is dying to be seen grilling and ridiculing a minister like Mr Murungaru. No wonder the minister called Mwenje's bluff. 

BROWN KILONZO, 
Machakos.

Kudos to Dr Murungaru for alerting Kenyans to prepare for any attack by Al Qaeda terrorists. The minister set a precedent in Cabinet history by telling the public what is going on for them to prepare for any eventuality. 

In the past, the policy of wait-and-see was the order of the day. This led to the August, 1998, bomb blast in Nairobi and that of Mombasa last November. When the public are informed in advance of what is going on, they often take precautionary measures to ensure personal security. 

The reaction by the parliamentary security committee MPs, led by Mr Mwenje, was a sham meant to sow seeds of discord. Did they want the country to be attacked first before the minister could release his the information? We cannot compromise our security. 

AMISI ORIGOLO, 
Athi River. 

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