What Can We Do About Growing Insecurity

[Ngunjiri Wambugu]

Happy [Belated] New Year,

It's been over 3 months since out last conversation on this platform. The silence (on my part) was because after our very successful #Ukenya shows on KTN that ended on the morning of the Kenya@50 celebrations in December, there really was nothing else worth bringing to the attention of this 'August' group.

However the issue of terrorism, and growing insecurity, has most of us worried, and I get the feeling that it's getting to the point where it could create new schisms in Kenya, this time on religious lines. I personally have to admit that I am finding myself becoming increasing intolerant on this issue, and I am sure I am not the only one. This makes me want to ask whether its not about time we revived our #Ukenya conversation, and discussed what a group like this (everyone of the slightly over 100 people in this email group are opinion leaders either in private sector or public sector) can do to help our nation on this issue.

I have spoken to Mr. Joseph Kaguthi, Chairman of the Nyumba Kumi Programme, on the concept of 'NyumbaKumi'. My opinion is that its a brilliant way to deal with insecurity because when all is said and done, even if Kenya had the right police:public ratio (which we don't), we can never have enough policemen to sort out local insecurity, unless the general public gets involved. However the #NyumbaKumi concept (which I understand was launched in 2005!), has been presented to the public in an extremely negative fashion, which has made it useless in the fight against terrorism, and general insecurity. Mr. Kaguthi is part of this email group, & he is willing to listen to any ideas we might have on this.

So let's re-engage & use this platform to discuss and build ideas that we can pass on to those able to implement them, on #NyumbaKumi and/or any other ideas that can help contain what's becoming run-away terrorism and/or general insecurity.

Twende kazi

Ngunjiri Wambugu
Sent from my iPad

[Edwin Kiama]

Hi all,

Ndugu Ngunjiri, the 'insecurity' we have is choreographed to coincide
with getting #UhuRuto out of the Hague through creating a narrative
that they need to be here to run the country. Nyumba Kumi is meant to
create a 'Republic of Fear'.

Our security will only improve if we are not being terrorized by our
own government. Our security will only improve if UhuRuto focus on
implementing policies that will grow the economy for the common Kenyan
creating jobs for the 1.2 million youths we are adding to our
population every year.

According to you Ngunjiri, the Kibaki government killed over 7000
Kikuyu youth in the name of eradicating Mungiki. mungiki is still here
with us. If we do not fix our society, we will not have enough bullets
to kill all disgruntled youth, whether Luo Taliban, Kikuyu Mungiki,
Luhya Chocorokoro or Somali Al Shabaab.

My 3 cents.... From: Ngunjiri Wambugu
Sent: 4/7/2014 15:12
To: uke...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ukenya] What Can We Do About Growing Insecurity

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[Mugambi Laibuta]

Hi all,

Ngunjiri you make a valid point.  The Nyumba Kumi Initiative is actually brilliant. However, GOK lacks the capacity to fully implement it. Futher, Kenya does not have the infrastructure to effectively carry out the Nyumba Kumi Initiative. One, Kenya does not have set residential addresses, if you live in some village in the Rift Valley or Bungoma or Wajir or Kwale, how would GOK know which street or house number a resident lives on? Kenya needs to be mapped in terms of residential adresses for Nyumba Kumi to be effective. Just as KRA registers  one's residential address, every Kenyan resident must be registered according to where they live. Secondly, as Kenyans we are generally lethargic, even with the Constitution, a large number of the working and educated class do not care much to get involved in governance. Hence, a radical paradigm shift must occur. If Kenyans in certain areas can get together/pull together to get services like electricity, water, schools and hospitals, why not national security?

On what is currently happening in Eastleigh, it is nothing new. Having grown up in the area, 'msakos' were the order of the day. Msakos were targeted towards illegal immigrants. The downside was that the security forces used these msakos to harass and extort money from non-Kenyans who did not have documents. That said, is there any country in the world that treats foreigners without documentations just the way they treat citizens and residents? In any case the illegals in the country were let in by corrupt and feckless officers working in GOK. Heads must also roll in the immigration and refugees departments. 

We need to be aware that only rights listed under Article 25 of the Constitution are absolute. All the rest may be limited depending on the circumstances; that is why we have Article 24 of the Constitution. Section 35 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2012 itself allows for limitation of certain rights in relation to fighting terrorism. Hence, to a certain extent the security forces are within the law in whatever they are doing save for the allegation of torture, harassment and extortion. All rights are not absolute in the war against terror.

Kind regards,

Laibuta 

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Best regards,

Mugambi Laibuta 

LLM (LSE), LLB (Moi), Dip. Law (KSL)

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Ngunjiri,

Experience has shown, sometimes its not the message but the messenger. In his book Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell gives the example of how the message of the Brtish Army invading New England in the 18th century. Two messengers were tasked to spread the news and were tasked to spread the news to the villages. To cover more ground they went in different directions. In comparison one messenger was extremely successful in getting the message across, over his colleague's attmepts, simply because it mattered more who carried the messge.

The govt is suffering from  a credibility crisis and has lost moral authority to legitimately speak into matters security when the country is regressing to the levels of insecurity last seen at the turn of the new millennium. My take is this, though it is a great idea, In my humble opinion, here are some things the govt should try differently;

1. A different credible institution selling the idea to Kenyans. Eg. Media, Churches etc. But an institution that right now has more credibility at the grassroots than the govt

2. Drop the name "Nyumba Kumi." Keep the the concept, rebrand and sell it differently to wananchi with a different name.

3. Aim big, start small. Get local success stories from both urban, rural communities and also high-prone security flash points that show transformation after implementation. Then sell the idea to the public.

4. Introduce it in phases over a medium to long term period (3-7years) Even though change is inevitable,  people adapt slowly.

5. Nobody should take credit. Let this be a wananchi driven initiative. The govt will get buy-in much quicker from wananchi

Sent from Samsung tablet