As the country continues to mourn the victims of last week's terror attack at DusitD2 Hotel and Riverside Complex, there is a need to re-examine some interventions suggested and put in place a few years ago. One of them is the Nyumba Kumi initiative. Under this intervention, Kenyans are supposed to know their neighbours. It remains a very good idea. Even financial institutions have, and enforce the know your customer (KYC) policy.
The know your neighbour initiative was well-received and embraced. Indeed, many criminals have been arrested, especially in Mombasa, Malindi and Lamu. However, we seem to have lost steam and relaxed. The attack on Nairobi's 14 Riverside Drive address should be a wake up call for the government to revisit the Nyumba Kumi initiative, critique it through professional security teams and come up with long-term measures that would be fully embraced by the public. That way terrorists and other criminal elements will have nowhere to hide as neighbours will expose them.
Of course no one can guarantee security 100 per cent given the frailties of human kind. We know some of us are very vulnerable to corruption. But these elements live among us. It is here that members of Nyumba Kumi become invaluable.
