From the beautifully trimmed flowerbeds to the gracefully swaying palm trees that line the path to the mall, Westgate is undoubtedly one of the most idyllic shopping complexes in Nairobi, Kenya.
As you walk into the magnificent structure, the beauty of display by the dozens of shops and a generally cool atmosphere make you want to stay longer than you intended.
And this was exactly the situation at the mall on September 21, 2021. Business went on as usual, with clients shopping and businesses continuing with their daily activities.
Walking into the mall, however, a keen eye could not miss the presence of heavy security right from outside the main walk-in gate, at all entry points and even within the mall.
Some donning suits, uniforms topped with reflector jackets and others carrying walkie-talkies, a criminal would be a cornered person around the premises.
To anyone who is not familiar with the history of the mall, the security checks could pass for the normal routine for accessing highly protected premises – perhaps just a bit tighter.
“Even we who work here are usually searched thoroughly as we enter the mall. Our handbags have to be frisked and we go through the body search,” a shop attendant told the Nation on Tuesday.
The attendant, who deals in clothes, said for the four years she has been doing business at Westgate, she has not felt insecure.
With the beefed-up security, the attendant, together with a few other traders who spoke to the Nation at the mall on Tuesday, might not even have recalled that it was on a day like this when the mall witnessed one of the worst attacks Kenya has ever seen.
“We are just pushing on with business as usual and dealing with the low business that has become the norm since the onset of Covid-19, but we have no security concerns,” a trader said.
Around the mall’s two storeys, everything was going on as usual.
But anyone familiar with events that occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, September 21, 2013, would understand the reason behind the strict checks at all the doors.
On that afternoon, gunmen entered the mall and opened fire on shoppers in a four-day siege that resulted in at least 67 deaths and which came to be known as Westgate Mall Siege.
The attack, which caught the mall’s management and even the security agencies by surprise, made the issue of security in public places around the country a global concern.
But it also led to the tightening of security checks at buildings, institutions offering public services and open places that are prone to attacks.
Eight years later, Westgate is still going strong and has won the confidence of many investors who have rented space at the premises. It is among shopping malls with high occupancy across the country even after Covid-19 ravaged business and forced many tenants to close their outlets.
The mall has also attracted international investors such as the current anchor tenant – French retail chain Carrefour – and previous ones such as Shoprite supermarket, which had rented the largest space there until leaving the Kenyan market last year.
The two retailers took up the space that was occupied by collapsed Nakumatt Supermarket when the mall was attacked in 2013.
Last year, courts found two men guilty of the 2013 attack and sentenced them to 18 and 33 years imprisonment.
Mohammed Ahmed Abdi was jailed for 33 years and Hussein Hassan Mustafa for 18 years, after they were convicted of planning and committing acts of terror, as well as supporting and helping a terrorist group. A third suspect, Liban Abdullahi, was found not guilty.
At the mall on Tuesday, the management was still not willing to comment on the incident that befell them almost a decade ago.
