Nakuru joined Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu to become the fourth city.
Amid the ongoing rendition, a full-range reflection of what city status mean for residents is needed, if the city is to attract investors and respond well to the needs of an ever-increasing population.
Exhilaration without reflection of current pressure presents a silhouette that has shadowed serenity mainly in the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.
Lying in the Great Rift valley, Nakuru has a cool climate making it a fitting agro-economic zone for the growth of a variety of crops and dairy.
Small businesses with humble abode in Nakuru have seen their ample rise, penetrating other product and geographic markets.
Despite this, there are multiple humps, molehills of security challenges that will easily form a mountain for Kenya’s newest city to surmount.
These challenges are occasioned by its geographic location.
Nakuru, as a transit territory cum city, crime rates are higher when compared to other cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.
As detailed in the figure on crimes reported to command stations, incidences of crime in Nakuru are second to Nairobi.
Economic survey data reveals that crime spiked in 2019, it took a nosedive last year in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru but slightly increased in Kisumu.
Overall, when crime incidences reported to the command station across the cities are compared, it is instructive that Kisumu is safest.
The observed trend is bolstered by the absence of organized criminal groupings, unlike Mombasa and Nairobi where criminal groups have a history of causing tension, harassing residents and passengers.
Nakuru has a past punctuated by organized crimes.
Despite years of sustained effort to weed out criminals by security agencies, organized criminal groups have entrenched networks in the informal settlements of Bondeni, Kaloleni, Kivumbini and Flamingo with a predominant presence in Bondeni.
There are reports that the groups operate across the city.
Majorly constituting youth, organised criminal groups in Nakuru include Eastlando, Confirm Movement, Msafi Kwanza and Gaza and Five Fingers.
Confirm Movement has notoriously been causing havoc within the central business centre.
Unemployment has been identified as a key driver for the formation of gangs.
According to crime statistics, Confirm Movement has grown its tentacles to the outskirts of Nakuru metropolis and are responsible for spiralled cases of robbery including carjacking.
A thoughtful approach to security is needed to contain challenges that confront Nakuru city.
It should not be preempted that insecurity is an automatic trait of a city.
Security operatives may have to fold their sleeves and look inward and strategise on new ways of dealing with crime.
A likely population influx is likely to result in augmented illicit misuse of small arms and light weapons and an upsurge in litigations due to tussles around property ownership.
The leadership should devise ways of engaging the youth with the ultimate aim of providing them with meaningful solutions as an alternative to abuse of alcohol and drugs that increase their chances of committing crimes.
Forums, where youth can vent grievances and issues, raised accounted for can improve intelligence information sharing, allowing for crime prevention.
Therefore, a strategic retreat to plan on security is needed to shield the vigour, vim and vitality that residents have from corrosion.
Nairobi-based analysts.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
