Drug lords should not be allowed free reign

NAIROBI: One of the biggest tasks facing the new Interior Cabinet Secretary, Mr Joseph Nkaissery, is stopping Kenya's steady slide towards becoming East and Central Africa's biggest narco-state.

Criminals involved in narcotics and human trafficking have been solidifying their presence in the region, using Nairobi and Mombasa as their hubs.

While much of the focus has been on well-known drugs such as heroin and cocaine, the criminals are now bringing in designer drugs that are harder to detect, but whose effects are equally devastating.

Nairobi's affluent suburbs of Westlands, Kilimani, Karen and others are the key distribution points for these designer drugs, and the delivery boys and girls are surprisingly fairly well-to-do, including well-known names in the entertainment industry. The market is growing daily.

The effects of those drugs are evident in the alarming and reckless lack of sexual inhibition exhibited by youths during all-night entertainment events and house parties across Nairobi, and even beyond in Nakuru (Naxvegas) and Machakos counties.

Young and old fornicate openly in these events with abandon after imbibing huge amounts of alcohol laced with designer drugs. The videos are readily available on You Tube and Facebook.

Such events have become profitable points of sale for the drug networks that pay protection fees to law enforcement personnel.

A study of countries that are currently fighting the problem of deeply entrenched and powerful drug lords that have become a law unto themselves is very revealing.

Mexico for instance, has had to use its military to combat powerful drug cartels linked to the northern narcotics triangle of Central America and the death toll on both sides with innocent civilians caught in between, has been high.

These drug kingpins gained control over large swathes of Mexico by taking over neighbourhoods and creating states within a state. Using their cross-border networks, they became extremely difficult to stop once they gained strength.

There are worrying signs that Kenya is heading in the same direction due to entrenched corruption in the police and immigration departments, and the huge sums of cash being made by "looking the other way".

The first strategy used by the drug lords is to exploit the weakened structures in the justice, security and immigration sectors to protect their criminal enterprises.

As a result, witnesses and files "disappear", drug shipments are cleared and cases in court die natural deaths due to "lack of evidence".

In Mexico, they donate regularly and generously to local law enforcement, giving them equipment and cash to build infrastructure and "keep the peace". They also have their informants within the State security apparatus who are well paid, and who set up extra-judicial killings.

They also register security companies that allow them to monitor police communication and set up their own militia, armed with weapons far superior to what the police have in their amouries, and are trained and managed by ex-military types.

The next strategy is to gain legitimacy by acquiring political power. In Mexico, they sponsor candidates in local municipal and State elections to the extent that some states have virtually become part of their criminal enterprise.

This is what former Washington Post reporter and International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC) fellow, Douglas Farah called the "transactional paradigm".

In Kenya, there is growing concern that drug money is now part and parcel of campaign funds used during elections, and that some of those involved in the narcotics trade have since secured elective positions, and have ears in the Executive branch of the government.

Before it was sanitised by MPs, the report on drug trafficking presented to Parliament by the late Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti was the first attempt at laying the grounds for a surgical strike at the drug cartels.

Saitoti later died in a mysterious helicopter crash along with his loyal deputy, Joshua Ojode and four others. Speculation was rife at that time about what may have caused the crash.

We may never know the truth, but there is no denying that nothing much has happened in the way of dealing effectively with the growing power of these criminal networks.

It is instructive to note that lately most of the huge drug hauls on Kenya's coastline have largely been credited to foreign governments.

Mr Nkaissery's uncompromising military stance may be just what is needed in the fight against drug trafficking, but will it be enough?

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