National and county governments must cooperate in security matters

As governors settle in office, issues of managing security continue to dominate the headlines.

Unlike in 2013, debate on devolving security seems to have lost traction.

When the county system came to be, there arose debate — led by the Council of Governors — on the need to devolve security.

Part of their argument was that crime and insecurity were felt on the ground and they were best suited to deal with it.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

They also said counties had emerged as centres of various resource-based conflicts in places like Meru, Isiolo, Baringo, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Turkana.

County governments and their leaders therefore felt they had a critical role in averting conflicts by facilitating inter and intra-community dispute-resolution.

However, this debate seems to have ended without the function being devolved.

A second contentious matter that also seems to have fizzled has to do with the role of county commissioners in handling security matters.

Right from the start, the appointment of county commissioners was controversial and there was robust debate on their legality.

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

This is largely because some were of the view that with devolution, the Provincial Administration had no relevance, and if it were to be retained, it could only work under governors.

Retaining county commissioners under the Office of the President, some argued, was an attempt at undermining devolution.

By keeping them, the national government was clawing back powers that had been taken away by the Constitution.

However, on 14 May 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta, through an Executive Order, re-designated the officers ranging from county commissioners, deputy and assistant commissioners, chiefs and their assistants to be known as the National Government Administration Office or Ngao.

Furthermore, new positions of eight regional coordinators were created and the officials charged with the responsibility of coordinating a cluster of counties.

The police and Ngao officials were put in-charge of security in counties.

DUTIES

While police do most of the everyday policing functions, county commissioners, chiefs and sub-chiefs closely work with them.

Some of the matters they have been involved in include being cracking down on those making illegal alcohol and those involved in rustling, besides addressing issues of drugs, vigilantes and criminal gangs among other criminal activities.

As direct representatives of the President in counties, some county commissioners have projected State power in a manner that has tended to overshadow governors, at times even competing with them.

This has led to friction and tension between Ngao officials and county governments leaders in regions like Kilifi, Kisumu, Mandera and Mombasa.

The most-high profile public case was the exchanges between Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and then Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa over issues like extrajudicial killings of gangsters and holding political meetings and demonstrations.

SECURITY OPERATIONS

Nevertheless, the administrative impact of this reconfiguration has an impact on policing and security management in counties.

In Bomet County for example, a study by scholars from Maasai Mara University showed that the reconfiguration had significant negative administrative consequences on selected aspects of crime management from 2010 to 2014 compared to earlier yeas.

The study concluded that “frequency of joint security operations on illicit brews dropped from weekly to monthly and need basis; the duration of response to scenes of crimes increased from minutes to hours, and the frequency of security committee meetings increased to weekly and need basis from monthly and need basis”.

This was attributed to the changed command structure in the provincial administration, inadequate resources and entry of independent security institutions as well as the county government itself.

Similar studies focusing on other counties are important to offer a complementary perspective of the potential impacts and influences of provincial administration on policing.

COLLABORATION

There is mutual, albeit unstructured, cooperation and engagement between some of the counties and the police.

Most, if not all of the counties, have created the office of a security adviser to provide technical support to the governor and devolved governments on security matters.

These advisers work closely with higher levels of the police, such as the county commanders, as well as with county commissioners.

Further, the private sector has also been supporting the police by donating vehicles and engaging in other activities that aid in improving security, for example street lighting and erecting floodlights in strategic places.

In rural and urban counties, leaders are facing challenges of development as well as pressure from unemployed youth.

Lack of sustainable livelihood opportunities remains a serious problem perceived to contribute to their recruitment into criminal activities such as drugs, gangs and banditry.

POLICING

Unfortunately, potential for improving local security through interventions by county governments and other local actors remain largely unexploited.

Many issues remain unaddressed regarding how the two levels of government can collaborate and harness their capacities and allocate their resources.

In many regions, the County Policing Authorities, which have the mandate of providing strategic leadership and advice on policing, are yet to be set up.

In places where they have, they are yet to be operationalised yet they are important for coordination between the national and county governments on security.

PARTICIPATION

Many of the major and urgent problems of security are linked to gaps and deficiencies of development polices and require local-level solutions, local knowledge and networks.

At the county policy level, it requires them to make a connection between their development agendas captured in the County Integrated Development Plans and addressing questions of insecurity.

This would allow counties to adopt a multiactor approach and undertake practical development-relevant measures.

Contribution of non-State actors is neglected but valuable.

Issues of policing are much broader, involve and are carried by other actors including women and youth groups as well as locals in different ways through gangs, vigilantes, neighbourhood watches and Nyumba Kumi initiatives.

If well utilised, these mechanisms can also provide an opportunity for innovation, increased organisational efficiency and adaptation of crime control measures to the local context.

This is crucial since improving security calls for better national-local collaboration, partnerships and linkages.

Mutahi is a PhD student at University of Edinburgh. [email protected]