Murkomen wants community reports turned into strategic security intelligence

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 28 — Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has called for a stronger system to turn community information into actionable intelligence, saying citizen participation could become a critical pillar of Kenya’s national security strategy.

Murkomen said the Government should develop mechanisms that allow information gathered from different communities to be analysed collectively, enabling security agencies to identify emerging threats and respond before they escalate.

“Ten communities reporting similar patterns is a signal that can reveal a pattern, enabling us to anticipate future risks and guide policy. It then becomes strategic intelligence,” Murkomen said.

The CS spoke at the National Defence College in Nairobi while delivering a lecture on Citizen Participation as a Strategic Pillar of National Security.

He said the Government’s approach should move beyond conventional community policing to create a continuous flow of information between citizens and security agencies.

Murkomen cited Rwanda’s experience in citizen participation in strategic intelligence as a lesson Kenya could draw from, while identifying Jukwaa La Usalama as a platform that could help institutionalize public participation in security governance.

“Jukwaa La Usalama gives Kenya an opportunity to make that relationship between Government and citizens a permanent part of security governance,” he said.

The CS said the Government was committed to institutionalizing the platform to give Kenyans a structured avenue to raise security concerns and participate in decision-making.

However, Murkomen said the success of Jukwaa La Usalama should not be measured simply by the number of public meetings held, but by what happens after citizens raise concerns.

“We will therefore continue to enrich the model, creating a continuous two-way relationship, identifying problems, connecting those problems to multi-agency action, and reporting back on what has changed,” he said.

The proposed approach would place greater emphasis on tracking issues raised by communities, the response from government agencies and whether interventions produce measurable changes.

Murkomen said stronger citizen engagement could therefore help bridge the gap between information held by communities and formal government security structures, while strengthening public participation in national security matters.