Why Cord should support Nyumba Kumi initiative

By Hassan Khalid

Let’s begin by resting the debate on the legality or otherwise of the Nyumba Kumi security initiative. Article 244 (e) provides that the National Police Service shall foster and promote relationships with the broader society. Here, the Constitution underlines the need for public participation in tackling insecurity.

Community policing is thus clothed with legal legitimacy by the highest law in the land. Previously, efforts by the society to lend a hand in curbing insecurity have been met with resistance; in some cases by law enforcement agencies, who have viewed such initiatives as going beyond the realm of legal control and by the society itself which has had to bear the brunt of vigilante groups.

Coupled with the rising insecurity, this constitutional foresight is an important avenue through which we can explore solutions to insecurity beyond the traditional police and guns affair. After all, the biggest threat to security and peace is posed by people in our households and neighborhoods.

Security concerns are too important to be left to government alone. In any case, government relies on intelligence gathered from informers who are in direct interaction with the society. Effectiveness or otherwise by the government in maintaining peace and security is as a result dependent on the willingness by the society to open itself for scrutiny.

Granted, the advent of a liberal society which focuses more on individual rights and liberties than general communal welfare has dealt a big blow to the traditional setting where everybody was his brother’s keeper. There is no doubt that as society becomes more complex and intricate, the survival of the community as we knew it, is threatened. In the end, it is everybody for himself and God for us all.

This sorry state of affairs is hugely informed by unrefined capitalism which encourages primitive accumulation at the expense of everyone else. The idea that one can liase with fellow men in pursuit of common solutions to common threats becomes difficult to process. The biggest ‘winners’ are terrorists and criminals who thrive on a policy of don’t ask and don’t tell.

Nyumba Kumi initiative therefore must be seen against this background. Its aim is not to create a police state as some have recklessly claimed. There is nothing untoward at all in seeking the input of the society in fostering solutions to common problems l.

It is simply an initiative of bringing residents together to share basic information in tracking activities taking place in their neighbourhoods.

While it is true that compromises will have to be made by, for instance, agreeing to share private information with neighbours, this will be a mutual affair for the general good. It is better to cede ground on some privacy and save yourself than cling to privacy and have your safety compromised.

The other roadblock to this noble security initiative has been mounted by Cord both inside and outside Parliament. Cord has lately been under intense pressure to show leadership by engaging the government.

It is also true that Cord has been outnumbered and outfoxed in the house by the government side on a number of issues. This however does not mean that it must provide opposition for opposition’s sake. The concept of community policing has been tried and tested around the world with phenomenal success. Tanzania serves as good case in point where residents appreciate that society can pull further together than when split asunder by liberty arguments.

Martin Luther King Junior would have said that it is better to rise together as brothers than suffer individually as fools. Cord has been quick to fault the government on the rising cases of insecurity but as soon as the government moves to curb the menace, the opposition is again faulting the solutions. Responsible leadership must be about opposing that which is unhelpful but embracing that which is beneficial.

After all, in the wake of the Westgate attack, Cord leader Raila Odinga stood side by side with President Uhuru to utter his support. What became of that promise?