Mandera Leaders Present a Raft of Security Measures

BY: Abdikadir Okash–

Leaders in Mandera County Tuesday agreed to a raft of counter-terrorism initiative following a four-day consultative meeting at the county headquarters in Mandera.
The leaders, led by governor Ali Roba, Senator Billow Kerrow and Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed, met with members of the security team, the youth, religious leaders, women as well as elders 0ver the four days in a bid to find a lasting solution to the terrorism related incident that saw mass exodus of skilled labourers from the county. This follows the killing of 64 people by Al Shabab in the last two weeks. Most victims in the attack were non-locals.
“The first step in sorting out any form of insecurity is having the good will of the public. These stakeholder meetings will be cascaded down to the village level through village Barazas. We believe with conviction that this time we have the good will of the public in the fight against terror.” governor Ali Roba said in a statement.
The leaders agreed to initiate a de-radicalisation program within the youth aimed at stopping youngsters from joining or supporting terror groups in the region.
“The next step is to start a complete de-radicalization program for the youth so that we can protect them from falling prey to the terrorists,” the statement added.
The leaders also want the government to chip in and provide reliable and timely intelligence to the county security machinery in order to pre-empt attacks. The call comes after the governor of the county survived two assassination attempt after unknown people planted explosive materials on the road to his office.
“The immediate step we expect is for the government security to start Intel based targeted cleanup program in town,” the statement continued.
The leaders lauded the forum as successful and long overdue.
“We never had the kind of engagement we had over the last four days…This time the entire county leadership came together to push for a course so firmly,” the statement ended.
The resolve comes at a time when there are a lot of talks on security in the country following the death of 36 quarry workers in Mandera that has sparked outrage across the political divide. The killing in Mandera saw the resignation of the Police boss David Kimaiyo and the sacking of the Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku. However, whether these de-radicalisation programs will work is yet to be seen.