Security Forces Inter-agency Coordination and Terrorism Prevention in the Cities: a Case Study of Nairobi City, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to assess the security forces interagency coordination in terrorism prevention within Cities, a case study of Nairobi City, Kenya. The study was guided by securitization theory and Systems Theory. This study adopted the qualitative research technique. The government of Kenya official documents as well as policy statements from the Main stream security ministries and departments were used. This study utilized purposive sampling technique. With regard to military officers and the National Police Service, the study used stratified random sampling. The ranks targeted within the National Police Service were that of Gazetted Officers from the Anti-terror Police Unit and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Data was collected in this study through interviews. This study utilized both qualitative and quantitative techniques of data analysis. The study noted that Kenya made a number of significant steps towards achieving security forces inter-agency coordination when the NCTC was inaugurated in the year 2004. The NCTC role is denoted as being accountable for CT commitment in Kenya in order to interrupt and identify terror related activities. The NCTC is concentrated also on operational requirements for CT organization with the guidelines and country’s national security, recognizing and addressing subsequently in the CT gaps, fighting of terror related activities, formulating a formidable defensive pillar of CT strategy in Kenya. The study recommends that the government need to address the perceived economic marginalization of the Muslim community, both at the north-eastern and coastal regions within Kenya. In order to address the root causes of terrorism in Kenya, the government need to denounce the terrorists considering their acts to be criminal acts just like other offences. The government security agencies need to collaboratively work with the community in ensuring that they remain proactive in mitigating terror related threats in the country. The government also needs to increase security forces efficiency, terrorist suspects prosecution, through intelligence gathering improvement and the security agencies need to be trained effectively in dealing with incidences of terrorism. Through community policing, the public might be sued to better terrorists’ activities intelligence gathering and other crimes.