Interior CS Fred Mariang’i has called for enhanced collaboration between African states in combating cross border crimes.
Speaking on Wednesday during the 10th Afripol Steering Committee meeting in Nairobi, Matiang’i said Africa is facing an upsurge in cross-border crimes.
“We must step up our collaboration and ensure coordination of responses that support shared objectives while respecting the policies and missions of individual agencies,” Matiang’i said.
He spoke during the meeting at the Sarova Panafric Hotel, Nairobi.
Among those in attendance was AFRIPOL Executive Director Tarek Sharif, Commander-in-Chief of the National Police Force of Gabon Serge Ngoma and Commissioner General for the Congolese National Police Dieudonné Bahigwa.
The Executive Secretary of the North Africa Regional Capability (NARC) Brigadier General Ahmed Altajouri was also present.
Matiang'i told the delegation that drug and human trafficking, small arms trade, theft of motor vehicles, livestock rustling, smuggling of contraband and generally organised theft are among crimes posing the biggest threat to Africa.
He told the meeting the continent is also grappling with emerging complex crimes such as money laundering, cybercrime and mobile phone fraud.
Identity theft, phishing scams, trade-in counterfeits, kidnapping, trafficking of prohibited and endangered wildlife products, pyramids and related phoney investment schemes are also emerging criminal threats to Africa.
Matiang’i encouraged security chiefs to continuously engage each other in adopting best practices and encouraging uniformity in tackling the emerging security challenges.
“One guiding principle that serves as a secret to success for a police leader is to ask others for best practice examples,” Matiang’i said.
The CS encouraged African governments to allocate more resources to security budgets to tackle transnational crime including terrorism and religious extremism.
“Spending more on intelligence gathering, policy reforms, costly equipment and more officers for strategic deployment has become inevitable,” he said.
Matiang'i further emphasized the need for civilian involvement in helping solve the crimes.
“We must work together to counter crime and promote justice and integrity.”
Matiang’i also encouraged Afripol to work closely with Interpol in intelligence sharing, advanced training and harmonisation of border-monitoring policies to match the complex nature of cross-border crimes.
“Kenya is cooperating with international partners to fight Transnational Organized Crime including the Regional Operation Centre Khartoum (ROCK). We have seconded an officer specifically dealing in the trafficking of human beings.
“We will continue working closely with our neighbours to better protect our citizens,” he added.
The meeting was called for countries to identify shared priorities and plan for appropriate strategies best suited to tackling cross-border crimes.
