The Ministry of Interior has unveiled a new strategy to combat crime in the country and improve the productivity of the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs) in security management.
This was announced by the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kithure Kindiki, during a function in Kipipiri, Nyandarua on Tuesday, February 7.
Under the new strategy, specific crime-reduction goals will be set for NGAOs, and these targets will be communicated through security committees, with performances expected to be reported up the ranks through an hierarchical accountability structure.
The government will also establish a reward program for top performers, with the aim of incentivizing security management at the grassroots level.
“Our security teams must agree on targets. We must sit down and cascade the targets.
“We must bring down the rate of crime in our respective areas,” CS Kindiki emphasised.
Kindiki recently listed these as the third existential threat to Kenya’s future, alongside terrorism and banditry, due to the apparent public health risks arising from their trade, including a decline in productivity.
“We are going to be extremely ruthless with those who are selling toxic substances, and one of the target we’re setting for our officers is to make sure that we go to the dens where these substances being manufactured and sold,” he said.
The enforcement of this policy will be led by Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, Deputy County Commissioners, and their assistants, who will work to reign in the production, distribution, and sale of these illicit substances.
“For those who work hard, it must count for something, but for those who don’t work, we must also communicate that to you,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
In his speech, Kindiki stressed the need to cut off the distribution channels of these harmful substances, stating that the government is committed to destroying this “cancer” before it destroys the community.
He also pledged to capacitate security personnel, avail more vehicles for police officers, and construct a police station in the Gillete area of Njabini.
Referencing the 13 percent reduction in crime recorded in the country under his leadership, Kindiki expressed his commitment to more engagement with his office to operationalize more administrative units.
The CS later announced that around midday, security agencies who included officers from the formed units and NPRs successfully thwarted an attempted stock theft by three groups of bandits who had laid ambush to attack Mogil area in Chesongoch Division, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
