The government is paying special attention to slums and other areas vulnerable to political violence ahead of
Prior to the August elections, the government is giving extra attention to slums and other areas prone to political violence.
During the election season, security agents are constantly monitoring the situation in areas prone to anarchy and crime, according to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
Matiang’i stated that a security surveillance and rapid reaction strategy specifically built for informal settlements in Nairobi and other big cities was already in place during a meeting with members of the Rotary club in Nairobi on Thursday.
Members of the Rotary Club had expressed worry about reported extrajudicial executions and ethnic flare-ups in informal settlements, and Matiang’i was responding.
“Extrajudicial killing is a policy that has been adopted by some countries, but it is not part of our policing philosophy. We are strictly bound by the law to arrest a suspect and arraign them before a competent court of law. No one needs to worry about informal settlements, ” stated.
According to the interior secretary, the country’s policing capabilities have improved tenfold since a decade ago, thanks to changes that have aligned the sector with citizens’ requirements.
A hotspots policing strategy based on a heat map depicting insecurity-prone locations is also being reviewed, according to the CS.
“We want to keep on improving. So far, there is nothing that can warrant the raising of the level of alert in the country. We have a functional early warning system that begins at the community level and a robust information sharing structure, and wananchi themselves have been key cogs in this framework,” he said
The CS went on to say that security agencies had been given 2,700 vehicles to improve the operational and logistical capabilities of national government administrators around the country, among other things.
“We have built strong inter-agency collaboration and reduced the ratio of police to civilians from 1 to 900 down to 1 to 600. We also have very strong international partners who are working with us on security management.”
According to Matiang’i, continuous security operations and economic solutions have reduced the threat of cattle rustling by over 75%.
He asked elected officials to work together to educate and empower children in order to deter them from engaging in retrogressive behavior.