How counties will help resolve insecurity in the country

When Interior PS Raymond Omollo presided over the opening of Assistant County Commissioner’s office in Homa Bay County. [James Omoro, Standard]

The government is mulling a strategy in which each county government will have their ways of dealing with insecurity issues. 

According to the Ministry of Interior, every county experiences its own peace and security challenges and now feels the new tact will be effective in the fight to end insecurity in the country. 

In light of this, the government hosted a stakeholder’s forum to come up with procedures to implement peace and security solutions. 

During the forum the Ministry convened in collaboration with Midriff and Act lobby groups, the strategy includes resourcing finances, logistics and expertise to support the initiative

The ministry communicated its intention to have the program effected through a circular to all actors in the security sector. 

"The participants drawn from various state and non-state actors will come up with very robust, strong, standard procedures on how to end the matters of lack of peace and insecurity," said Kitui County Commissioner Kipchumba Rutto, who represented the Eastern Regional Commissioner. 

"We are going to form committees also, from a regional level to the lowest administrative unit, (3:00) and cascade this information to the lowest level," he added. 

This plan, he said, is being built upon the foundation that had been laid in 2022 when the Ministry released a circular to the sector players that would help the government deliver peaceful elections then. 

"The circular was intended to bring and rally support from all stakeholders to work with the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs) to deliver peaceful elections," he stated. 

Midrift Huniret Executive Director Joel Omondi noted that the programme will be people-centred and that the public will have a role to play in ensuring its success. 

"It will not be a one-fit-it strategy and so each region and county is specific to their security needs and each will be able to design what best suits them, though there will be standardised operating procedures," he said. 

While acknowledging the progress made in protecting lives and livelihoods across the country, Aden Abdi of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims expressed the need for a robust framework to realise a peaceful society. 

"We need a more robust and structured platform for monitoring security situations across the country for us to have a sustainable peace and security.," he said. 

He said effective coordination between communities and security officers will improve the safety of Kenyans and their properties. 

Killian Nyambu of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission said "This is not a task preserved for the government but a shared responsibility. There is much-needed support for security agencies to deliver their mandates to create an enabling environment for our communities to grow."