Murkomen calls for greater public participation in national security
Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen
Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has called for stronger citizen participation in intelligence gathering, saying information shared by communities can help the Government identify emerging security threats and shape national security policy.
Speaking at the National Defence College in Nairobi, where he delivered a lecture on “Citizen Participation as a Strategic Pillar of National Security,” Murkomen said community reports could become a critical source of strategic intelligence if properly collected, analysed and acted upon.
He said recurring reports from different communities could help security agencies identify patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“Ten communities reporting similar patterns is a signal that can reveal a pattern, enabling us to anticipate future risks and guide policy. It then becomes strategic intelligence,” Murkomen said.
The CS said Kenya could draw lessons from Rwanda’s experience in involving citizens in strategic intelligence while strengthening existing platforms such as Jukwaa La Usalama.
Murkomen said the platform provides an opportunity to establish a more permanent relationship between citizens and the Government in security governance.
“Jukwaa La Usalama gives Kenya an opportunity to make that relationship between Government and citizens a permanent part of security governance,” he said.
He said the Government was committed to institutionalising the platform and giving Kenyans a structured avenue to raise security concerns and participate in decision-making.
However, Murkomen said the success of Jukwaa La Usalama should not be measured simply by the number of public meetings held.
Instead, he said, authorities should assess the actions arising from those engagements, the problems resolved, the time taken to respond and the impact on affected communities.
“We will therefore continue to enrich the model, creating a continuous two-way relationship, identifying problems, connecting those problems to multi-agency action, and reporting back on what has changed,” he said.
The CS’s remarks come as the Government seeks to deepen community policing and public participation in security matters, with citizen-generated information positioned as an additional resource for identifying and responding to emerging threats.
