Vulnerability Of Urban Business Centres To Terrorist Attacks: A Case Study Of The Nairobi Central Business District

Abstract

There has been terrorist attacks and threats in Kenya more so in Nairobi central business district (CBD) despite the measures and the strategies the government has put in place to curb terrorism. This study sought to find out the vulnerability of Nairobi Central Business District to terrorism, examine the factors that make Nairobi Central Business District vulnerable to terrorist attacks, to investigate the measures put in place to mitigate against terrorist attacks in the Central Business District, to examine the effectiveness of strategies put in place to prevent terrorism and find out the challenges of curbing terrorist attacks in Nairobi Central Business District. The study employed non probability sampling using snowball to arrive at 63 respondents with 10 key informants purposively selected. The data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected, organized, categorized, coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Most of the respondents were males and have been in Nairobi for more than 10 years implying that majority of them have been in Nairobi for long. Some of the factors they indicated that made CBD vulnerable to terrorist attack were the high population, the congestion in the streets especially in the evening. The study found out the strategies put in place by government was CCTV cameras, the officers on patrol, the informants on the ground and the detectors and barriers in buildings. The study further revealed that most respondents agreed to some extent that the strategies put in place were not effective and were not aware since most of them were put by individuals for own safety and security. The recommendations of the study were that there should be proper and stringent rules regarding the protection of the owners, managers and the people who are in CBD against terrorist attack. They also indicated that the presence of sniffer dogs, more CCTV and detectors would send signals to terrorists since they are being monitored.