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Search on for anti-terror chief
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism Martin Kimani. He is set to be take up his new position as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
The appointment of the country’s counter-terrorism chief to an ambassadorial position has not just created a vacancy but also generated debate on what next for the country’s counter-terrorism measures.
Martin Kimani, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism, is set to be take up his new position as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, after his vetting by the National Assembly.
Amb Kimani was also the Director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the nation’s main counter-terrorism centre, mandated to gather information and assess terrorist threats facing Kenya, then develop a plan to combat them.
Three names are being touted around as his possible successors.
The first one is a NCTC deputy director, who was seconded to the counter-terrorism centre from the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Then there is a former county commissioner in Lamu.
The third one is a former senior military officer who served with Kenya Defence Forces Special Forces regiment, who has been leading the military’s soft power strategy as a way of dealing with violent extremism.
Big shoes
Whoever is picked next is expected to fill the big shoes of Amb Kimani.
“Kimani helped to demystify the security understanding of counter terrorism from hard to soft power.
“He was also instrumental in the democratisation of violent extremism where citizens now play a key role towards preventing and countering violent extremism,” says Kelvin Osido, Executive Director of the County Governance Watch.
The County Government Watch has been running a campaign on preventing and countering violent extremist called Defend My Future, which has been running since 2015. It targets youth in universities and collages.
Action plans
Players in the countering violent extremism (CVE) field list some of the successes of Amb Kimani as the development of 47 County Action Plans for CVE I, fostering more citizen-centred engagements with NCTC and strengthening closer engagement with development partners to support civil society organisations in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism.
Under his guidance, in September 2016, President Kenyatta launched the Kenya National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism.
This was followed by the government in March 2017 forming a national taskforce aimed at ensuring that all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) while acting within their mandates, undertook coordinated efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism.
The Kenyan government embraced the idea of CVE after the Westgate Mall attack in September 2013 in which 71 individuals were killed. A year after the attack, the NCTC launched a process to develop the National Strategy on Countering Violent Extremism.
A newly released report by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions reveals a drastic reduction in a number of counter-terrorism cases.
“During the years 2018/2019 to 2019/2020, there was a huge drop in cases registered. This points to successes of the strategies put by the government in the fight against terrorism,” the report points out.