Omollo orders security chiefs to operate from respective workstations

Government administrators have been directed to intensify the level of surveillance and embrace a community-based approach in the fight against terror.

Principal Secretary for Interor  Security Dr Raymond Omollo (pictured) also directed the administrators, being chairs of the security and intelligence committees in their jurisdictions, to operate from respective work stations and take a firm grip as the government intensifies its counter-terrorism offensive.

Omollo also warned that the officers: County Commissioners, their deputies and assistants as well as Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs, operating from outside their workstations risk losing their jobs for dereliction of duty and jeopardising national security.

He noted that the officers must be at the forefront of the war against terrorists and other operatives with hostile intentions, after which he fired a stern warning that those who will defy the directive will be sent packing with immediate effect. “If you are working as a National Government Administrative Officer, make sure you are at your workstation. And if you can’t be at your workstation, then it’s time to pack up and go,” he said.

Disciplinary action

The Principal Secretaries  told the officers that disciplinary action would be taken against those who drop their guard, whether for omission or commission. He was speaking in Garissa, where he had accompanied Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on a security meeting and a public baraza in Masalani Town with local leaders, elders and NGAO drawn from Ijara, Hulugho, Bodhai and Bura East sub-counties.

Alongside other frontier counties in the North Eastern region, Garissa has had a series of persistent threats posed by Al-Shabaab militants, who continue to maraud the Kenya-Somalia border.

Omollo said NGAOs are progressively designing and deploying a community-based approach to the existing and emerging challenges.