Monica Kagia

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has challenged civil society groups to help the government to fight radicalisation among the youth 

He said the groups should propose programmes to keep the youth from joining terror groups and organised criminal groups. 

Speaking in Watamu, Kilifi county, during curriculum validation meeting organised by Haki Africa at the weekend, Haji called for customised interventions as opposed to copying programmes from foreign countries which have no regard for human rights.

“How do we ensure that we have programmes that suit our needs; that come from the grassroots?

The biggest mistakes has been copy-pasting programmes from foreign countries and trying to implement them in Kenya,’’ he said. 

He cited Saudi Arabia and Morocco as countries where laws are different from Kenya’s, thus anti-radicalisation programmes from those countries cannot work.

The youth have been a soft target of violent extremists recruitment, compounded by the high rate of unemployment among young people.

Haki Africa boss Hussein Khalid said they seek to develop a guide that will help improve the operations of the justice system.

He said most suspects feel ill-treated by the system, which encourages others to look for other crude ways of seeking justice.

Haji said the programmes and policies adopted in the fight against the vice must be in line with the Constitution and respect human rights.