Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has called for cooperation between the government, political leaders, and citizens to root out terrorism in the country, especially in the North Eastern and Coast regions. Addressing journalists at a Malindi hotel Thursday, Omollo said the multi-agency approach adopted by the government in tackling the menace was bearing fruit, but noted that there was a need for all actors in and outside government to work together towards eliminating the threat. ‘I call for collaboration among all players within and outside government, especially the elected leadership from the North Eastern and Coast regions and the citizens themselves, because without ‘wananchi’, who are the biggest group that bears the brunt of terrorism, it is difficult to completely deal with the effects of terrorism,’ he said. The PS said this after giving a keynote address during a meeting of the technical team on police reforms that included officials from the National Police Service Commission, the Ministry of Interior Headquarters, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, and partners facilitating the process. The team, he said, was looking into the welfare of police officers alongside the equipping of the police service. Omollo said the strategies include involving both leaders and residents through strengthening community policing and community engagement in the two regions, noting that locals usually bear the brunt of terrorist attacks. ‘Locals are the ones who bear the brunt of the attacks, yet they are the ones who know who lives where, what business they do, and who is inciting members of the public. It will therefore be easy to tackle terrorism if we work with them,’ he said. The meeting that started early this week is taking place against the background of the Taskforce on Police Reforms headed by (Rtd) Chief Justice David Maraga that the president set up at the end of last year, which the PS said would submit its report to the appointing authority next week. ‘We expect that the task force will submit its recommendations in a report to the president next week. From those recommendations, we expect to extract the specific action points based on the implementation matrix, which will go a long way in ensuring that the issues of the police are properly addressed,’ he said. On the Shakahola debacle, the PS urged relatives of victims to be patient and allow security agencies to complete investigations, adding that within the next one or two months, investigations will have been completed. ‘We are therefore calling for patience because we believe that in the next few weeks we will have completed the investigations and we will have enough evidence to charge the suspects,’ he said.

Source: Kenya News Agency