Involve communities to flush out terrorists

What you need to know:

  • President Kenyatta’s disclosure that some foreign nations and organisations are funding the radicalisation of youth is food for thought.
  • His warning about a plot to cause chaos, we hope, indicates the security agencies are working round the clock to ensure the schemes are stopped.

President Uhuru Kenyatta could not have had a better occasion than the day set aside to honour our national heroes to warn about the greatest challenge to our peace, tranquility.
Thanks to the sacrifice and dedication of a few, we have a country we are all proud of, in which we are free to pursue their dreams and goals.
Indeed, there are challenges, but ours is a stable nation which has a Constitution that outlaws any form of discrimination.

However, the country has increasingly come under siege from foreign terrorists. But the threat from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab is even more ominous due to its ability to recruit local youths, who aid its murderous forays into the country.

Some of the foreigners who have been involved in past terrorist attacks could not have unleashed the mayhem had they not received information or guidance from their local contacts.

PLOT TO CAUSE CHAOS

President Kenyatta’s disclosure that some foreign nations and organisations are funding the radicalisation of youth is food for thought.
His warning about a plot to cause chaos, we hope, indicates the security agencies are working round the clock to ensure the schemes are stopped.

There is a need for a more robust information gathering system in which the security agencies work closely with communities to flush out the bad elements.

Where communities are fully engaged, it will be easier to have parents sensitised on the danger of their children being lured into radicalism. Reports of youths crossing the border into Somalia to join Al-Shabaab are not new.

Though we expect the police and other agencies to secure the country, they can’t do it alone. The new heroes we should honour next year should include those who help to foil terrorist attacks.