Leaders and citizens have failed to turn in terrorist operatives but they must confront al Shabaab head-on, Garissa governor Ali Korane said on Monday.
He said the time has come for leaders and residents to realise the harm terrorism does to society. “These are local insurgents living among us, our own people serving in their ranks, with cells and informers in our towns,” Korane said.
He said leaders will rally the communities to join in the war against extremism and al Shabaab.
Korane said if the war on terror is to be won, the relationship between the public and security agencies must be improved.
He said on Saturday a Kenya Red Cross vehicle was attacked and a volunteer injured in Ijara. A GSU officer instructed a chief to mobilise residents for a baraza but he separated the youth and beat them up.
This violence, Korane said, only serves to build mistrust and deter the community from volunteering information on suspected al Shabaab operatives.
“How are we going to attain the objective of eliminating these people [al Shabaab] if we still have such officers? It’s time our officers are retrained on how to relate with the public because that has been our biggest undoing,” Korane said.
The governor, a trained military officer and a long-serving administrator, said the disciplined forces are never instructed to beat up civilians when looking for information.
Korane spoke during the launch of the Garissa County Action Plan on prevention and countering of violent extremism. It was sponsored by USaid and attended by officials from the National Counterterrorism Centre.
The County Action Plan, the first counter violent extremism document in the region, is a 13-pillar strategy. It has borrowed heavily from the nine pillars of the National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism.
Korane said the document will guide the county on countering terrorism and al Shabaab.
County commissioner Joshua Chepchieng praised the county administration, leaders and the residents for working with the national government to win the war on terror.
He said going forward, the government will take disciplinary action against any officer found rounding up and beating civilians.