Wajir women rights campaigner wants the govt to go slow on proposed Security Bill

The head of a Wajir-based NGO now want the government to reconsider the proposed Security Amendment Bill (2014) saying the amendment could worsen the ailing security situation in the country.

Director of Girl-Kind-Kenya Rukia Abdullahi

Rukia Abdullahi, the Director of Girl-Kind-Kenya said Kenya has enough laws to take care of the country’s security situation. She cited the existence of numerous security laws in place to make the country safer.
Speaking to The Star in Nairobi, the Wajir county assembly member rubbished the proposed bill as dangerous saying it could lead to mistrust.
“…the bill will plant mistrust between the state and the citizens which is already on the rocks,” Rukia said.
She urged the government to come up with “explicit strategies including incorporating the local county governments in the security sector.”
She warned members of the National Assembly from passing the bill as it is saying it could lead to victimisation of many innocent and infringe on their basic rights.
“Wajir Country has suffered greatly as far as insecurity is concerned. But this law would not help [resolve] matters,” The Star quoted her as saying.
For the security of the country to improve Rukia suggested that the government to take a leaf from the neighbouring Ethiopia where a counter-terrorism strategy has seen the country foil attacks. She attributed the success of Ethiopia to lack of corruption in their security sector.
“For Kenya to defeat terrorism and general insecurity, it must tame corruption especially in the sector at the borders. In Ethiopia where there is great success in the fight against terror, the spirit of patriotism even among the police and intelligence is so high such that corruption is unthinkable,” she offered.
She also took a swipe at the police officers manning the border saying they were “complicit” in the infiltration of terror element into the country.
“Our security agents [are] up for sale. As [a] resident of a region that borders war-torn Somalia, the level at which the police abet crime into the country is worrying,” she added.
The proposed Security Amendment Bill (2014) has attracted mixed feeling among Kenyans. Civil Society groups and the opposition MPs termed the bill “draconian piece of legislation that was crafted to take back the gains made in the new Constitution,” while the government defended it as timely and necessary to secure the lives and property of Kenyans.