By James Wallunya
Kenyans are grappling with insecurity and coming to terms with police shortcomings that have plunged the country deeper into a security crisis. In effort to mitigate this, the government introduced the ‘Nyumba kumi’ initiative. Nyumba kumi is Swahili for ‘ten households’ and entails a cluster program whereby people are to know at least ten of their neighbors; understand who they are, what they do and where they hail from. They are also supposed to have clear leadership structure among them and share intelligence about any security threats. The concept, which was announced in October 2013, is part of Kenya’s community policing program, and hopes to bridge deficiencies in the security sector and build a positive police-citizen relationship.
The implementation efforts have been futile so far, the concept has not been fully embraced by nationals, who are the main actors and understand the underlying issues that cause crime in their societies. Nyumba kumi has been widely perceived as a grim acknowledgement by the government of its own failures in providing security to its citizens. The police force is riddled with several challenges including an unbalanced police to human population, corruption, lack of enough equipment, poor service policy, lack of enough financing and weaknesses in tackling with transnational crimes amongst others. There are also concerns relating to privacy. The government’s rush decision to announce the program did not go well with a lot of people simply because of the above reasons
According to a report published by the U.S Department of Justice; Office of Community Oriented Policing Services named ‘the collaboration toolkit for community organizations: Effective strategies to partner with law enforcement’ Community policing is done contextually, there is no blanket formula which is applicable everywhere, a community’s organization, values and beliefs system, cohesiveness, extent of change desired, apathy and trust in the police will determine the approach of the program. It’s also important to understand that apart from such internal community factors, the willingness of local governments to pursue effective integration of the police and community policing agencies is vital.
The policy’s failure is attributed to the fact that the people have not understood the program fully. The government has also not done enough to mitigate this. This kind of community participation is not meant to replace the existing departments but to supplement it, as some part of the population believes. Tax payers nationally are also not willing to take the extra step to engage in this, in part, due to increased individualism in Kenya. Poor police-citizen during the colonial era and lack of institutional reforms in the sector has resulted in discordant relationship between the two. Community policing only works where there is enough cooperation between citizens and security agencies. The fact remains that security requires concerted efforts, in other words, the involvement of all citizens in a country, whether they are law enforcers or not. Hence, these challenges have to be addressed if success of the program is desired.
The government should first adopt a dynamic, flexible and concise plan in introducing the program. To ensure national success, extensive civil education, skill building, motivation and a demonstration of the program has to be conducted, whereby the government together with other interested agencies will implement the policy in a section of the country, take a village or location instance. From here, there will be available data exposing the weaknesses, success and estimated time frame for the program to assist in mapping it nationally. It’s also important that the government addresses the weaknesses in its security agencies and further promote the sector. This will help in building confidence in establishing a trusted police-citizen relationship and show that the government is not handing over its mandate to citizens.
Community policing can be a feasible avenue, if properly explored, to solve the issue of insecurity in Kenya. But it should also be realized that this is not a quick-fix to security. Initiating changes of this magnitude will require great patience, perseverance, collaboration and total commitment or may take a long time and face great challenges. It seems viable, but the government should ensure that Nyumba kumi endeavor does not evolve and replace security agencies in the country.
The implementation efforts have been futile so far, the concept has not been fully embraced by nationals, who are the main actors and understand the underlying issues that cause crime in their societies. Nyumba kumi has been widely perceived as a grim acknowledgement by the government of its own failures in providing security to its citizens. The police force is riddled with several challenges including an unbalanced police to human population, corruption, lack of enough equipment, poor service policy, lack of enough financing and weaknesses in tackling with transnational crimes amongst others. There are also concerns relating to privacy. The government’s rush decision to announce the program did not go well with a lot of people simply because of the above reasons
According to a report published by the U.S Department of Justice; Office of Community Oriented Policing Services named ‘the collaboration toolkit for community organizations: Effective strategies to partner with law enforcement’ Community policing is done contextually, there is no blanket formula which is applicable everywhere, a community’s organization, values and beliefs system, cohesiveness, extent of change desired, apathy and trust in the police will determine the approach of the program. It’s also important to understand that apart from such internal community factors, the willingness of local governments to pursue effective integration of the police and community policing agencies is vital.
The policy’s failure is attributed to the fact that the people have not understood the program fully. The government has also not done enough to mitigate this. This kind of community participation is not meant to replace the existing departments but to supplement it, as some part of the population believes. Tax payers nationally are also not willing to take the extra step to engage in this, in part, due to increased individualism in Kenya. Poor police-citizen during the colonial era and lack of institutional reforms in the sector has resulted in discordant relationship between the two. Community policing only works where there is enough cooperation between citizens and security agencies. The fact remains that security requires concerted efforts, in other words, the involvement of all citizens in a country, whether they are law enforcers or not. Hence, these challenges have to be addressed if success of the program is desired.
The government should first adopt a dynamic, flexible and concise plan in introducing the program. To ensure national success, extensive civil education, skill building, motivation and a demonstration of the program has to be conducted, whereby the government together with other interested agencies will implement the policy in a section of the country, take a village or location instance. From here, there will be available data exposing the weaknesses, success and estimated time frame for the program to assist in mapping it nationally. It’s also important that the government addresses the weaknesses in its security agencies and further promote the sector. This will help in building confidence in establishing a trusted police-citizen relationship and show that the government is not handing over its mandate to citizens.
Community policing can be a feasible avenue, if properly explored, to solve the issue of insecurity in Kenya. But it should also be realized that this is not a quick-fix to security. Initiating changes of this magnitude will require great patience, perseverance, collaboration and total commitment or may take a long time and face great challenges. It seems viable, but the government should ensure that Nyumba kumi endeavor does not evolve and replace security agencies in the country.