We should all support the new security chiefs

The New Year started on an optimistic note after President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Joseph Kipchirchir Boinett to replace David Kimaiyo as the Inspector General of Police.

Coming shortly after Joseph Nkaiserry was approved by Parliament to replace Joseph Ole Lenku as Interior cabinet secretary, there is renewed hope that the country will put paid to the wave of insecurity wrought on the country by Al-Shabaab militants that saw many lives lost last year.

And while there is no doubt that Boinett, a senior intelligence officer with the National intelligence Service is up to the task of stemming insecurity in the country, it must not be forgotten that the appointments on their own cannot be an instant panacea for the security woes that stalked Kenya for the better part of last year.

Indeed, many studies have been done on the correlation between insecurity and the immigration and security forces in a country. The newly appointed leaders need the support and political will from all, starting with the President and his deputy William Ruto, down to the common mwananchi.

It would be foolhardy to expect that the new chiefs can, on their own, gather all the information required and re-engineer the police service, to gain the right attitude to work and shun malpractices that hamper security in the country.

The new chiefs will need the support of the National Police Service Commission, especially in monitoring integrity within the force and weeding out malcontents within the system as a clear demonstration of a new sense of seriousness in the running of the police force.

The commission also needs to work with other State agencies such as the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to ensure a new curriculum is formulated and implemented for retraining of officers to transform the force into a modern unit that is responsive to the needs of a 21st century nation.

This is important because as currently constituted, the force follows an attitudinal drill that was meant to help the colonial Government ward off aggression among the natives.

Citizens too have a civic duty to embrace community for it takes everyone's effort to keep the country safe.