Security agencies in Garissa have embraced community engagement programmes aimed at bringing together members of the public and law enforcement officers to find solutions to the arising security concerns.
The Programme, which is being supported by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), also aims to bridge trust between the members of the public and security officials that has been low over the years.
Soumana Abubakar, an expert in community engagement and policing at IOM, said that they conducted a survey and found out that there was no trust between the members of the public and security officers, making it hard to solve crimes.
“This programme is called community engagement and policing and it is aimed at enhancing human security by ensuring the participation of communities in broader governance. This is an approach where the community members and stakeholders in the remote border areas are not seen as part of the problem but as part of the solution,” Abubakar said.
“This public baraza brings together the community members and the law enforcement agencies to dialogue, address the issues and together, try to find the solutions,” he added.
The Director for Counter Violent Extremism at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Paul Songok, said that the public plays a great role in the security sector because it is in the communities where the crime happens.
“If our communities decide to take security as their responsibility, criminal activities would reduce significantly. The community engagement programmes help us to bridge the trust deficit that has been there between the public and security in the past years,” Songok said.
“With these engagements, we have seen improvement in this trust and communities are now willing to share information with police because they have been interacting in these barazas and there is no longer the fear of reporting cases,” he added.
Songok urged the public to share relevant information when called upon for quick investigations, adding that the information shared would be confidential and hence would not leak back into the communities.
“Prevention is better than healing. If we get information early on time, then we can investigate and take action before a crime happens. Our Inspector General has been advocating for the communities to be at the centre in terms of security because most criminals live with them and are known,” he said.
An official from the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Masisi Kiilu, said that by engaging the public, the government would win the war against terrorism, radicalization and violent extremism.
“We have spoken to the elders, our women and the youth in this area so that we can work against radicalisation, violent extremism and recruitment of our youth to terror groups. We have told them their role in this fight,” Kiilu said.
“We have come together to see how the government can work closely with the communities to end violent extremism practices. We are also working with other stakeholders, including the NGAO officials, the national police service, and other partners like the IOM,” he added.
By Erick Kyalo
