By Philip Onguje
Kenya’s political and policy leaders have become so predictable in the way they respond to and address waves of crime and violence.
When attacks erupt in Bungoma, Busia, Narok, Mandera, just like Tana river, Mombasa, Garissa and Baragoi responses seem to be narrowed to just three: give the police more equipment, order use of force and commission an operation of an elite squad.
Lately, orders of forceful disarmament have also been issued, though previous attempts returned minimal returns to the taxpayers.
They often clarify that the guns police officers hold are not ornaments and that the security of the country cannot be compromised. They adopt tough language and resort to nationalistic sentiment to rally public support behind their positions. For some reason, relative calm often returns to the “hot-spots” following highly publicised tours and brief operation excursions. We could as well say the “hit and run” culture on our roads finally caught up with our political and policy leaders as well as bureaucrats responsible for safety and security.
Soon, a well oiled industry might as well emerge around security operations – since it costs real money to mount and sustain them- the fuel, rations for officers, boots, uniforms, allowances, weapons and all sorts of assortments associated with operations.
It might well become so “cool” for officers to belong to the elite squads, since they will be able to solve problems that their local colleagues cannot, and get glory for doing so. What will it look like if we got standby squads for the next round of operations? After all, they seem to be doing a better job at arresting waves of insecurity.
In the wake of these operations, and just before they become the norm, it is useful to ask three pertinent questions. Why have they become the choice option for the policy makers? Do they address the fundamental problems of crime and violence the country is facing? Who benefits from them?
It is easy to discern answers to the last question, so we will pay specific attention to the first two. There is tragedy of policy leadership when it comes to dealing with waves of crime and violence in Kenya. Political leaders, regardless of the coalition they belong to, seem to be groping in the dark.
On this score, there is no promising policy and both seem to agree that increase in police firepower is a good enough solution for the problem. They will not critically interrogate any other options available as they receive and consider the President’s Sh4 billion annual budget proposal for police gadgets. It will not be a surprise if no one asks the simple question: which equipment or gadget and why? There will be no analysis or evidence of any programme of action by the Government to address runaway crime to achieve longterm safety for our communities and what value will Kenyans get by investing this money in it. Interestingly, you do not need knowledge in rocket science to figure out where investments will yield the most results in the Police.
Let us digress a bit. Within the same Government, there is the public health sector where great lessons have been generated, if only policy leaders cared to learn from each other. More than half the crimes in the country are preventable crimes. This means that if policy makers chose to proactively engage potential perpetrators and victims of crime and violence into positive behavioral practices, the pool from where gangs are recruited will simply dry up.
If police stations were better enabled to perform their functions effectively, and if each station commander was subjected to a simple performance appraisal, it will be much easier to produce a safe and secure community much faster than it seems and at a much lower cost to the tax-payer.
-The writer is Coordinator Usalama Forum
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