Tame graft to win the fight against terror elements

I must start by acknowledging the candid discussion on the issue “terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism” by Dominic Ruto Pkalya in The Standard on August 1. This presents a rare analysis on the topic of terrorism in Kenya – which is quite complex. My rejoinder is however limited to the concrete arguments he made in the article.

He noted that on July 10, President Uhuru reported (to the conference on Counterterrorism) that all the 47 counties have developed the County Action Plans (CAPs) on preventing violent extremism, as a major step to prevent violent extremism. This is an excellent idea but until we define ‘terrorism in our own context’ the action plans just remain to be another budget in futility. It is important to conceptualise the actual meaning of violent extremism without overlying on the Western ideological definitions that are equally contestable.