President Kenyatta Launches Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism

President Uhuru Kenyatta has officially launched the National Counter-Violence Extremism Strategy in a ceremony that happened on Wednesday.

During the launch, the Head of State named the Director for National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Martin Kimani as the special envoy of the newly launched strategy.

Speaking during the event, President Uhuru said that the fight against terror has to be tackled through the use of different ways and approaches with key among them being rehabilitation as well as disengagement of the returning foreign terror fighters.

“The National Counter-Terrorism Centre will be the focal point for the coordination of processes managing returnees in the country,” said the President.

Kenya has been hit several times by the Alshabaab terror group based in Somalia but which is said to be recruiting some members from Kenya and using them against their own country. The launch of the National Counter-Violent Extremism Strategy is meant to stop young people from joining Alshabaab and bringing back into the community those who defect from the terror group.

The President said “This NCVE strategy will rally all parts of government, communities, civil society, the private sector as well as our international partners. One of the crucial tasks being built on this strategy is the disengagement and rehabilitation of returning foreign terrorist fighters who completely disavow the use of violence and any adherence to the ideology and aims of terrorist groups,”

In this strategy, Civil societies as well as religious groups will have an upper hand in helping for the fight against terror through preventing violent extremism. The President also noted that terrorists have caused untold suffering not only in Kenya but in every continent.

“In their quest to change the course of humanity, they have committed unspeakable atrocities, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people on every continent, imposing a state of terror on populations within their control, and even re-instituting the evil practice of enslavement in the 21st Century,” said the President.

Among those who took part in the development of the strategy were various government agencies, county governments, religious leaders, the private sector, civil society as well as other stakeholders within Kenya and other international partners.