Police reforms key to war on terror

The shocking massacre of 28 people in Mandera brings to the fore, yet again, the challenges of public safety and security in the country. Unfortunately, these attacks have become a common occurrence, differing only in scope, location and intensity.

It is a fair bet, that given the Government's incompetent response to these attacks, this will not be the last incident. At this point, it would be fair to assess the efficacy of the Government's strategy in what is rapidly becoming a low-level counter-insurgency strategy.

The Government backed by the US, UK and Israel has consistently failed to craft a coherent, sensible and workable policy. These so-called allies have fallen for the false line of thinking that assumes that throwing money and equipment at the institutions that should be dealing with security matters is the panacea. Take the case of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

This is a highly discredited organisation that is not only corrupt, but is also responsible for gross human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances and extra-judicial executions.

The US, UK and Israel continue to support this unit with funds and equipment despite the fact that it appears to be unable to offer any positive results. A report by The Open Society Foundation titled "We are tired of taking you to court" documents many of the recent abuses by the APTU.

It appears that the Government's main way of dealing with the threat by Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahedeen (HSM) and its allies and supporters is now mainly decapitation and mass arrests, in addition to its military incursion into Southern Somalia. Just like the US in other areas, the Government thinks that if it kills as many as possible of the leaders of these militants, their organisations will either collapse or be degraded to such an extent that their activities will be very limited.

This view is supported by such scholars as Patrick B Johnson, writing in the International Security Journal, who in "Does decapitation work? Assessing the effectiveness of Leadership Targeting in Counter Insurgency" contends that decapitation is an effective tactic.

However, as shown by the emergence of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), many of these Islamist insurgent groups are learning fast. According to the Daily Beast online publication, groups such as IS are relying more on mid-level and decentralised leadership. It states that "ISIS's battlefield success and political resiliency depends on sophisticated, but partially decentralised structure that recommends a different form of targeting".

Given the fact that IS and HSM and others have a broad shared goal, it is not inconceivable that they could be sharing strategy and tactics. HSM and Boko Haram in Nigeria would be keen to learn from IS. The Government's other strategy of profiling communities and groups and mass arrests can only serve to push disillusioned youths in the Coast and Northern Kenya to join the militants.

The response to the Mandera massacre does not inspire much confidence and Kenyans are completely right to react with derision at the statements by top leaders, including Deputy President William Ruto.

The Government sought to demonstrate that it had taken robust action against Al-Shabaab by killing 100 of its members, including the attackers. Few people in Kenya believe this. The KDF should release the Battles Damage Assessment report and footage to confirm its claim. But even if this was true, such a tactic does not help much except to give you the satisfaction of having taken revenge.

What is required to improve security is to strengthen and deepen police reforms. As it is now, the Government is more keen to roll back the gains of the police reform agenda. The provisions of the Chapter on National Security in the 2010 Constitution is very clear on the guiding values and principles on policing. Policing must be done in a way consistent with a democratic society.

The police must be independent of the political elite, tackle corruption within its ranks and be accountable to the oversight mechanisms. Lastly, the security organs must develop a coherent and comprehensive strategy to deal with all aspects of public safety and security.