National Cohesion and Integration Commission unveils drive to combat radicalisation

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Chairperson Francis Ole Kaparo addressing journalists in Nairobi on September 25, 2015 [Photo WILLIS AWANDU/STANDARD

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has launched campaigns to fight radicalisation and religious extremism among youths in Kwale County.

The commission said the drive targets learners in primary and secondary schools.

More than 16 institutions, under the Peace Gala, met at Diani Babla Secondary School in Kwale yesterday. This was in a bid to stem extremism.

Addressing the Press at the venue, NCIC Chief Executive Officer Hassan Mohammed said the commission listens to young learners and talks to them in order to found out those among them holding radical ideas or abusing drugs.

"We want them to help by talking to their friends in addressing radicalisation and fight of drug abuse. A number of young people are swayed by radicalised youths," he said.

Kwale has been a pioneer of the peace programme that is now spread all over the country.

"The county is so strategic as many youths have been targeted for radicalisation," Mr Mohammed.

The commission boss said the initiative seeks to inculcate oftolerance and spread narratives to counter stereotypes.

"We have trained co-ordinators of Amani groups that will spread the gospel all over the country. Since we started there is enthusiasm from the children to participate in the issue of Amani clubs," he added.

But NCIC noted it had faced various challenges, such as limited resources and weak laws.

Mohammed said the citizens' expectation was high, noting that the commission's work was not to solve everything since other responsibilities belong to constitutional bodies like the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the courts.

"It is the work of the DPP to prosecute and the courts to convict and therefore as NCIC we do not have any business doing that. Because we are a cohesion body, we do not solve everything in court but can reconcile or warn and only resort to prosecution as a final resort," he explained.

He at the same time cautioned that not all utterances made by an individual qualify to be hate speech.

He singled out MPs who were allegedly writing to NCIC on some investigations, saying they were only insults and not hate messages.