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Kenya’s counter-terrorism strategy on the spot

Mustafa Ali, a security expert and director of the Arigatou International NGO in Nairobi, pointed to the police’s sluggish response to the Mpeketoni attack, and said the government lacked “a framework or a strategy for counter-radicalisation”.

“There hasn’t been much that has been done [in the last year] to address the lapses in the police force itself,” Ali said. “The police force is still the old lethargic force; it is incapable of professionally apprehending terrorists or preventing major attacks.”

Others take a more sympathetic view, arguing that criticism of the police response to the Westgate attack could be misplaced given the early stage at which the military took over the operation. Similarly, claims that intelligence on Westgate or subsequent attacks was ignored or not acted on quickly enough are very difficult to verify.

Cheeseman pointed out that many of the failings in the police force and other security services come down to an ingrained lack of professionalism. Changing this would require patient work that could not happen overnight, he said.

“That goes back to the training you give them, the amount you pay them, the cultural ethos within the organisation, the leadership from the top,” Cheeseman said. “You can’t deal with that easily and quickly. That is a kind of lifetime generational shift to really work on.”

Wider questions remain about what exactly is being done to tackle the threat posed by Al Shabaab and prevent a repetition of the Westgate attack.

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