Security considerations should dictate the vote

Nov 16, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
In the current atmosphere of heightened interest which the upcoming November 28 elections have generated, I would like to focus on our security expectations of the incoming administration after polling day.
That the security question remains problematic refers not only our fear of physical insecurity, but to the more intrinsic issue of political will to address those fears in an environment which enables enhanced capacity for efficiency, and in keeping with national development objectives.
It has been argued that among the causal factors of inefficiency is the perception of pervasive and untrammeled corruption which is more often than not aggravated by actual corrupt behaviours. It is in this context that we should expect the incoming government to promote reform by confronting the anomalies which lend themselves to acts of inefficiency and corruption across the board.
I seriously think that it is only reasonable to demand that any meaningful and sustainable reform process should avoid ad hoc piecemeal interventions, and an acceptance of the necessity for certain preconditions including the need for clear links between capacity development inputs and institutional outcomes.
Furthermore, there should be a review of organizational structures and their establishments before any funds are invested in capacity development. In this regard we need to be convinced of a commitment to designing an appropriate framework for a comprehensive reform programme which encompasses training and structural development.
The new government must ensure that the coercive institutions of state recognise and be guided by the principles of the rule of law; socio-economic inclusion; community-centered action; public-private partnership; sustainability and accountability; and intelligence-led and evidence-based practices.
The new administration must actively promote the development of our crime prevention capacity through expanding the research and knowledge base. We should rightly expect the reassurance that the incoming government will take a more aggressive approach in responding to our security and corruption concerns insofar as they relate to their proven potential to undermine democracy; deplete national funds through corrosion of the tax base and theft.; access to and the accumulation of assets; cost of doing business; and prospects for employment and educational opportunities.
However, the foregoing notwithstanding, we believe that any incoming government would be hard pressed to achieve any of the above in the absence of a meaningful local and regional governance process focused on developing appropriate local security strategies and capacity. In this regard we expect that all of this could be facilitated through encouraging youth and children, to become interested stakeholders in their own future and in their community’s future through education, counselling, recreation, and job training with private sector investment, and support from non-profit organizations.
We need to be convinced that the new administration will work assiduously to reduce the risk of crimes occurring, their impact on individuals and society, and the fear of crime by inviting the relevant technical input to design interventions using strategies and measures that incorporate effective best practices with respect to standards and norms on crime prevention.
I believe that we should expect that in the shortest possible time after the November 28 dust has settled that the elected government will up the ante by taking more proactive, concerted and urgent actions to dismantle networks in trafficking in humans and illicit drugs, financial and cyber crimes where ever the evidence leads.
We expect that (in addition to all of the above) the issue of women and children’s safety in communities will feature prominently in the design of crime prevention policies and programmes.
Whoever can meet our security expectations deserve our most favourable consideration come November 28, 2011.
Patrick E. Mentore

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