NAIROBI,Kenya, Sep 28 — The government has scaled up efforts to counter violent extremism amid surge in terrorist attacks in North Eastern and Coastal Region with heightened surveillance .
Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has said the government is ramping up patrols and surveillance and investing more resources to aid security agencies in tracking down and neutralizing terrorist elements wreaking havoc in the country.
To win the war on terror, Omollo said the government is also expediting the reforms in the security sector.
Speaking in Malindi after addressing the technical committee on Police Reforms on Thursday, PS Omollo announced that the former Chief Justice David Maraga-led National Taskforce will, within a week, submit its report to President William Ruto with the ultimate goal of addressing the welfare of security officers and at the same time enhance their effectiveness.
“Alongside the equipping of our police officers, we expect to see very critical and specific recommendations. From those recommendations, we expect to extract specific action points based on the implementation metrics, which will go a long way in ensuring that the issues of the police are properly addressed,” he said.
Omollo disclosed that government agencies have stepped up efforts to forge a path of collective action through multi-agency operations and community-led responses to end the pervasive threat that has plagued the two regions for far too long.
He said the government is now shifting its focus to civilians at the grassroots whom he says are well placed to root out terror elements hiding within the citizenry.
Inter-agency cooperation
Omollo defended the approach saying it had already shown promise, as security officers working in tandem with the public have thwarted many recent attacks.
“We are committed to fostering a culture of open dialogue and information-sharing among stakeholders, key among them the local communities, at all levels. It is our hope that we will be able to enshrine citizen participation in security by inculcating a sense of shared responsibility when it comes to the management of security at the grassroots level,” he said during a separate security consultative forum.
During the meeting, which was also attended by chairs of Regional and County Security and Intelligence Committees, the PS noted that it will take genuine and seamless collaboration between government agencies, civil society groups, and the public to counter violent extremism.
“It is our hope that we will be able to enshrine citizen participation in security by inculcating a sense of shared responsibility when it comes to the management of security at the grassroots level,” Omollo said.
Kenya has also shifted its responses and prioritized establishment of a more formidable and united front to suppress the terrorists’ activities in the country.
The Reducing Insecurity and Violent Extremism in Northern and Coastal regions of Kenya (REINVENT) programme is among the interventions that have yielded remarkable results in creating awareness and enhancing the resilience of communities and individuals to stand up to terrorists and other criminal gangs.
The five-year intervention, which is supported by UKAid, brings together various government agencies and downstream partners with the intent to provide improved police performance to enable investment, inclusive growth and equitable service delivery to communities in Northern and coastal Kenya
