War on extremism calls for collaboration by all actors

It has been half a decade since the concept of countering violent extremism (CVE) was coined by the British government. Slipped into the March 29 Statute Law Miscellaneous Amendments Bill are changes to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2012) to expand the composition and powers of the National Counter Terrorism Centre. Is it time for us to reflect and refresh our anti-terrorism strategies and alliances? The origins of CVE trace back to the September 11 New York bombings and the failure of pure military strategies to reduce the global proliferation of terrorism in the 2000s. Countries like the Netherlands and United Kingdom framed new law enforcement strategies to contain political and religious views that might trigger violence. The concept has gone international over the last five years.

If you overlook the colonial period, the Kenyan seeds of terrorism were sown in the late 1990s. Several Islamic mosques began to practice a form of wahabism that was intolerant of other religions and called for the establishment of caliphate state. Mothers complained to local police stations that their children were becoming violent and disappearing. Their complaints and those of Imams were ignored. Kenya went from five violent attacks between 1970 and 2007 to 47 attacks a year on average.