University students debate countering violent extremism

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Students from 14 Universities in Nairobi, Mt Kenya region and Kajiado are set to participate in debates, stage plays and discussions on how to counter violent extremism for the next four days at the Multimedia University of Kenya in Nairobi.

The event held in collaboration with lobby group Yaden brings together partners working in countering violent extremism including the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

Speaking at the event, NCTC's Chief Liaison Officer, Joseph Kanyiri, said that the involvement of involve university students will enhance and deepen their understanding of how youths are recruited into violent extremism.

He said that youths were opinions shapers and policy influencers of that which affects them in Kenya and that the event was seeking to have them become ambassadors of peace rather than violence.

The four-day event will focus on who bears the responsibility between religious organizations, government, learning institutions, families or the youths in countering violent extremism.

“Violent extremist groups are not recruiting the average youth, the want brilliant minds such as the ones we have in our universities,” he said.

According to Kanyiri, youths were being targeted not just for recruitment but also for spreading the group’s propaganda even as the country nears the 2027 general elections.

He said that the activities will help the students become more discerning about leaders who may seek to exploit them for political gain even as the country grapples with the use of goons to disperse political meetings and attack opponents.

“We are saying that it is not always we will agree on issues raised but if we disagree, we disagree respectfully and appreciate that, that is the opinion of the other person.”

He said that social media was still big issue for NCTC in countering violent extremism as the growth of digital platforms had made it easy for extremist groups to recruit and lure youths while cautioning that the platforms leave a trail and will catch up with those involved.

NCIC’s Killian Nyambu said that the event was important for the country due to the political temperatures continue to rise barely a year to the polls.

“On matters politics, we lack hygiene on how to agree or disagree or agree to disagree,” he said.

On the activities of the four days, Nyambu said that the debate offers an opportunity for them to learn how to conduct politics and arguments in a hygienic way where there is decency, order and respect towards divergent opinions.

He said that university students help NCIC in preventive aspect where they help shape what politics of the day are about and they can be able to call out the leaders who are out of order seeking to mislead them.

“We want to reach to a point where, if we hear somebody bringing divisive narrative we do not cheer that person,” he said.

On social media, Nyambu said that NCIC is seeking to raise awareness on information abuse and hate speech online because young people form the bulk of Kenyans who use social media to air their opinions.

“We want to be able to make them understand, what is hate speech, how can I fall into the pitfall of spreading hate speech online and also how to share credible information.”

Sami Gathii of Yaden said that the event was working with Kenya University Debate Championship, a student lead outfit to give them voices to express what they think is the solution in countering violent extremism.

He said that the discussions have always been about young people’s involvement in political problems that they do not own and at times aren’t even invited to be part of the solution.

Nurulbeyt Mohamed, a student from Umma University, said that they were happy to be involved in the activities as it shows that students are active participants in seeking solutions.

According to Mohamed, learning institutions hold a bigger responsibility in raising awareness since that is where students spend their formative years.