Why Kenya should be tough on terrorists and the causes of terror

When fighting terrorism, crime, violence or any other social ill, there has traditionally been a dichotomy between two competing schools of thought. The first says that we should deal with the issue at hand. If it is terrorism, then invest more in law enforcement and adopt a more pro-active approach to counter terror operations. If the evil is crime, then increase prison sentences and put more police on the streets.

The alternative approach is to deal with the underlying causes: alienation, exclusion, poverty or unemployment. Advocates of this school of thought argue that a complex challenge such as terrorism or crime cannot be dealt with through law enforcement and that in the absence of a social response to what is essentially a social ill, the issue can never be truly addressed.