Coastal, northeastern counties urged to promote anti-terrorism programmes
Director of National Counter-Terrorism Center Njenga Miiri delivers a presentation at Maridhiano Center,Minjila Town, Tana Delta Sub-County
County governments in the Coast and northeastern regions have been encouraged to allocate money for programmes on counter-terrorism and combating violent extremism.
Preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) is a cohesion issue affecting communities and hence the need for counties to fund its success, said National Counter-Terrorism Centre Director Njenga Miiri.
Speaking at a forum in Minjila, Mr Njenga noted that to build strong resilience in communities and thwart violent extremism, counties must play a pivotal role in PCVE programmes in the interest of their people and their economies.
“You must look at this not from a security angle but a social cohesion perspective, a conflict resolution angle, that does not attract an audit query,” he said.
Mr Njenga noted that counties in the two regions have faced the adverse effects of economic turmoil, and that should inspire them to make the war on violent extremism a priority.
He also noted that all drivers of the programme were related to the county service delivery team and could facilitate the action plans on PCVE to success.
“Counties like Lamu, Garissa, Tana River, Mandera, Wajir have all lagged as a result of violent extremism and therefore this should be a priority as a step to restore their economic stability,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by the executive director of the Kenya Community Support Centre, Phyllis Muema, who urged counties to increase funding for departments that have a direct effect on the local economy.
Ms Muema reiterated that violent extremism is inspired by social injustices and need to increase funding for departments of Agriculture, Youth, Sports, Education, and Gender that touch the youth directly.
“If they engage the youth in income-generating activities, agriculture, promote talent and skill development then this is what we mean by facilitating the action plan on PCVE,” she said.
She noted that Mombasa, Taita Taveta, and Kwale are now experiencing the results of fully embracing the action plan and their economies are growing.
“The counties in the north Coast and those in the northeastern region have higher economic potential than any part of this country, but investors have no confidence in them. It’s time to reverse that perspective," she said.
The forum was steered by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
This is after it emerged that some counties in the respective regions were avoiding funding and implementing the action plans on countering violent extremism, terming it a national security issue.
In the northeastern region, only Tana River County has committed money - Sh57 million - to support the action plan.
