The Influence of Urban Refugees Activities on Kenya’s National Security

Abstract

National security is an important construct that permeates social, economic, political, environmental and mental spheres of life. The National Police Service Annual Crime Report (2019) showed a 17% increase in crime rates especially in Nairobi, compared to a 13% increase in 2018 and a 7% increase in 2017. This shows that as the years progress, so is the rates of crimes touching on assault, defilement, theft, conning via economic manipulation, possession of drugs and causing disturbance. Could urban refugees activities be one of the weak links in enhancing national security in Kenya? To ascertain this, the study sought to establish whether there was a relationship between urban refugees activities and Kenya’s national security. More specifically, it sought to establish whether, economic, social and youth radicalization activities by urban refugees has an influence on national security in Kenya. Two theories anchored the present study and they included the securitization theory and the Social Exchange Theory. This study was hinged on a quantitative research approach by specifically utilizing a descriptive survey research. The target population comprised of selected registered urban refugees residing in Nairobi, the staff working at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) and staff working at the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) both at their headquarters. To get a manageable sample from the target population, Yamane Formula was used to access 398 urban refugees and 151 security personnel from the DCI and ATPU. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. The study used questionnaires to access data. To ascertain the extent to which the measuring items in the questionnaires measured the actual construct of the research objectives, the questionnaire were given to the supervisor who checked if the items cohered to the objectives. To test the reliability of instruments, a pilot study was done on 10% of the sampled population which brought the respondents to 55. The results from the pilot test were computed against the Cronbach Coefficient Alpha test to see if the results exceeded 0.7 which is the mark of acceptable reliability and a result of 0.712 was noted implying acceptable reliability. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools that included means, standard deviation, Pearson Correlations and Regression analysis. The results show that: economic activities (=.223 p-value <0.05), social activities (=.313 p-value <0.05) and youth radicalization activities (=.198 p-value <0.05) have a statistically significant effect on enhanced national security threats in Kenya. The study thus recommends that the security apparatus in Kenya should create a policy that clearly stipulates the proper registration of urban refugees and the supervisory plan for any economic or social activity that they engage in. This will ensure that only those refugees ascertained to pose no security threats are registered and allowed to engage in any activity. The national security apparatus should deny any training done by urban refugees from regions that are terrorist-prone or regions with any religious extremism. This will curb the youth radicalization problem in Kenya. There is need for a consultative forum between the government and other humanitarian agencies to discuss, once and for all, the need for urban refuges and how they should operate. Without such a discussion, national security issues will continue to be a menace in Kenya.