The Coast Regional Commissioner (RC), Rhoda Onyancha, has called for cooperation between the government, political leaders, and the citizenry to combat security threats in the area.
Consequently, Onyancha held a meeting with security teams from the region’s six counties and 33 sub-counties at the Kenya School of Government (KSG), Mombasa, on Thursday to take stock of the emerging local security concerns during the past one year, appraising on achievements and challenges faced while setting an agenda for the region in 2024.
The RC said the region was stable towards the end of 2023, despite the challenges encountered at the beginning of the year.
Onyancha said the regional security teams under her jurisdiction will build on the 2023 achievements, address the gaps therein, and come up with a comprehensive security roadmap for 2024.
The RC cited the Shakahola cult massacre in Kilifi County as the major insecurity incident that happened in the region last year, where more than 400 lives were lost, causing astonishment among Kenyans. Seemingly, the massacre caught the security apparatus flat-footed.
Additionally, she termed terrorism as one of the major security threats facing the region, among other felonies like organised crime, highway robbery, drugs and substance abuse, land conflicts, herder-herder conflicts, and herder-farmer conflicts.
The meeting also delved into cross-border and inter-region security issues, with the RC upbeat that they had come up with an elaborate strategy to address possible security threats to ensure stability in their respective counties.
“As a region, we have a myriad of security threats. We have gone through all of them and come up with ways of addressing them per county because every devolved unit has its own unique challenges,” said Onyancha.
Going forward, she added, they had agreed to adopt the multi-agency approach right from the regional down to the sub-county levels to ensure the entire area remained secure and stable.
The RC noted that the region can’t achieve much without peace and harmony because, in essence, security is the key enabler of every other sector of the economy.
“If there is a gap, or if we have security challenges in the region, then it becomes very hard for other sectors to thrive,” reiterated Onyancha.
Meanwhile, local elected leaders were urged to collaborate with their respective security teams in the fight against drugs and substance abuse, a scourge that had destroyed the lives of many youths in the region.
By Sadik Hassan and Mauta Jackie
