ANOTHER MASSACRE IN MANDERA: 36 KILLED RIVALRY BETWEEN ADMINISTRATION POLICE SERVICE AND KENYA POLICE SERVICE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND COMMUNITY POLICING HAS CONTRIBUTED TO INSECURITY IN KENYA Countries world over have endeavored to achieve better security services to its people as security is central in propelling national growth and economic development. The Kenyan Government, in its effort to provide better security service to its people advocated for police reform that brought Administration Police Service (APS) and Kenya Police Service (KPS) under one umbrella National Police Service (NPS) headed by Inspector General. The Government too empowered the county commissioners as the security chiefs in the counties which has led into confusion in the command system. It is notable that none of these commands formed by the government have achieved their declared long-term aims, and in most cases have suffered grievous reversals or completely lost semblance of popular support as a result of increased insecurity. The rivalry between the Administration Police Service and Kenya Police Service and the empowering of the county commissioners to oversee security has been seen as the major cause of insecurity in the country. This is due to lack of a functioning command and coordination structure in place as the creation lacked vision and clear strategies for goals to be achieved at the end. Lack of command structures not only give initiative to the criminal activities to cause insecurity, but allows confusion to develop among the security forces about their respective roles and responsibility, leading to competition as seen between APS and KPS, duplication of effort and inefficient collection and dissemination of intelligence. So this is the major cause of insecurity in Kenya the lack of clear command structures. For effective security in Kenya there is need for an effective security structure. The most effective structure will be one led by an individual with responsibility and authority over all elements and aspects of security issues. This will avert the rivalry between the security organs and enhance effective community policing as each and every security agent will have a clear defined role. A national government plan should acknowledge elements crucial to a successful counterterrorism campaign and other criminal activities. This should include; • There is need for an effective overall command and coordination structure. • Legitimizing measures, taken by the government to build public trust and support combined with antiterrorist legislations sensitive to public sentiments. • Coordination within and between the security agencies. • Collaboration among the different security forces to enhance effectiveness. Due to lack of these four elements in the Kenyan security system, Kenyan Government now face new problems and challenges in developing effective countermeasures to security problem enhancing terrorism and other criminal activities flourishing simultaneously and interchangeably. The individual application of selected tactics and policies without comprehensive national security plan has prolonged a conflict between security agencies and even led to complete failure. As simple and obvious as this point history it has more often been ignored or forgotten than followed even after the Westgate attack and 1998 bomb last. The British counterterrorist campaigns in 1950s are cases to point. In each successive campaign, the same mistakes in organization and intelligence were repeated, with the lessons of earlier conflict seemingly ignored. With the introduction of the county commissioners as security chief led to miss in link between who is in control thus a major failure in intelligent information dissemination. This is the scenario in the security sector in Kenya with lack of clear command. In conclusion the major cause of insecurity in Kenya is lack of clear command structure for effective collection and intelligence dissemination.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 07:06:17 +0000
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