Fight Against Escalating Crime In Kenya: Why Major General Ali's Contract Will Now Be Renewed

One of the biggest failures of the Kibaki administration is that there is no such thing as planning ahead and instead the government always ends up reacting to a crisis or situation. Crisis management it is called.

This is clearly illustrated by the fact that we are now seeing some action right on the eve of the forthcoming general elections when what is being done now should have actually been done in 2003 or at the very latest the beginning of 2004.

The most recent example of a good thing that this government has done rather late in the day, is the action being planned to revamp and reorganize security agencies in the country to combat rising insecurity and crime. It seems that finally, after so much loss of life, Police Commissioner Maj Gen Ali has finally gotten enough authority to make an impact on things.

In a statement that was released after a high level security meeting yesterday that involved the chief of general staff, head of intelligence, CID boss, principal immigration officer and Police commissioner Ali, as well as head of public service, a number of recommendation were approved for action. One of them was to give Major General Ali full authority to revamp special units and even create new ones where he feels they may be necessary in order to bring the rising crime wave under control. It has taken three years of power struggles (for instance with former CID boss, Kamau) and frustrations from people like Internal security minister John Michuki for Ali to finally get enough "teeth" to have a fighting chance of getting his job done.

It is instructive that a security meeting that has involved such high level attendance right across the board, and especially that of the Chief of general staff is unprecedented in the history of the country. But so is the current wave of escalating crime.

It is now clear that Ali, whose contract expires at the end of March, will most probably get an extension to complete the many new things that we will now see.

It is all a terrible pity because Ali is the first indigenous Kenyan police commissioner in post independent Kenya to be appointed on merit and qualifications. All others before him right from the late Bernard Hinga (who was related to President Kenyatta) right up to people like Kilonzo and Nyaseda had their appointments influenced by powerful politicians.

Interestingly there was a time when some Nation reporters tried to discredit Ali's qualifications on the grounds that he did not go beyond the old Form Four system. Kenya is now infested with people who do not believe that a person can be qualified for any job unless they have a university degree. Hogwash really when you consider that we are now well into the information age where the required skills have changed dramatically and anybody can access any information they want to the point of being an instant expert, on the Internet. Not to mention the fact that Ali has undergone elite Special Forces training in the United States and prior to being seconded to the police was heading a crack military unit of paratroopers. Not to mention the experience the man has had which makes him the perfect choice to deal with the sophisticated criminals that the police are now finding themselves up against.

Ali is also in a unique position to make a difference because the government has finally understood one fundamental aspect of security. And that is the fact that it involves much more than just the police force. The presence for instance of the principal immigration officer in yesterday's high level security meeting seems to address the crux of the whole problem of escalating crime in Kenya. And that is the influx of dangerous arms and dangerous criminals from neighboring war-torn countries like Somalia.

Maj General Ali appeared on the Showdown TV programme last night on NTV and side-stepped many sensitive security questions. The truth is that criminals also watch TV keenly especially where they can glean information on the latest strategy being hatched to combat them. Ali was keenly aware of this and must have greatly disappointed them and probably frustrated some Kenyans keen to know exactly what the police plan to do to combat escalating crime in the country.

One of the questions that kept on coming up concerns the old myth that the police do not have enough fire power to combat sophisticated weaponry from criminals who almost always carry automatic weapons these days. Ali simply said it is not true. What he did not say, probably for security reasons, is that since he arrived at Vigilance house the police armory has seen major changes and the Kenya police are now at an advantage because criminals have to conceal the weapons they carry which limits them in comparison to the new weapons that the police have acquired which they do not need to conceal when they go out to face criminals.

There are also indications that the suggestion from ODM-Kenya's Raila Odinga that the military be brought in has been taken up and one of the crack units that is bound to be formed by Ali will most probably resemble the American SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics). In all likelihood it will include sharp shooters and commandos from the Kenya Army. Not good news at all for the youngsters who have been on a rob-kill-and-rape orgy in recent times.

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