EFFECT OF COLLAPSING INSURGENCY LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION ON ECONOMIC LIVELIHOOD OF HOUSEHOLDS IN LAMU COUNTY, KENYA
Beritah Catherine M. Sammy - Masters in Leadership and Governance, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Dr. Robert Gitau - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The rise of insurgency in Kenya has increased in the recent past. The attacks by Al-Shabaab extremists in Kenya have threatened to wipe out the gains made from tourism and has destabilized livelihood earning activities in some parts of the country such as Lamu County. The struggle for Lamu is not an unfortunate but obscure episode in the War on Terror however; it is a battleground for the economic prosperity of East Africa. Lamu County is the planned site of one of the most ambitious economic initiatives attempted in Africa — the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport Corridor project creating a network of roads, rail-lines and pipelines connecting South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya, with the additional construction of three resort cities and a modern port and refinery. Successful counter insurgency in the county is hence key in establishing economic stability of not only the region, but also the entire East Africa region. The study specifically sought to establish the effect of collapsing insurgency leadership and strategic communication on economic livelihood of households in Lamu County, Kenya. This study was guided by the Chaos theory and the Interactional View theory. The study adopted a mixed method research design where both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted. The study targeted Three county administrators including the Governor, County Commissioner and County Minister in charge of security at Lamu County, 4 heads of security agencies in the county including Kenya Police, Administration Police, National Intelligence Service and Kenya Defence Forces to participate in the interview. The study also targeted the civic organizations in the county which totals to 48 according to the ministry of gender, culture and social services of Lamu County. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires and interview guides. The collected data was analysed through qualitative methods involving thematic / content analysis as well as quantitative analysis involving descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. The study established that only collapsing insurgency leadership has a significant effect on economic livelihood while strategic communication does not. All have a positive effect however. Based on the findings the study recommends the state agencies and organs involved in fighting terrorism and countering insurgencies in other parts affected to consider adopting the strategy of collapsing insurgency leadership, strategic communication, consider investing more in economic development and transformation by empowering the youth with skills and capital to manage economic activities in order to improves their economic livelihood significantly and reduce their engagement in terrorism activities and involvement of various organs such as security agencies, both levels of government, the people and the civic groups in the region affected by insurgent groups in the process of countering it so as to win the trust of the people and hence lead to a more successful mission which can restore normalcy and improves economic livelihood.
