Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang’i, on Wednesday urged public prosecutors in the East African region to find ways to step up cooperation in skill development and capacity building in a manner that will allow our personnel to be part of joint investigation teams.
The Cabinet Secretary noted that most of the region’s security challenges go beyond our regional borders, adding that collaboration will go a long way in improving the capacity of our prosecutors in dealing with the existing and emerging transnational organized crime.
Speaking during a symposium of the East African Association of Prosecutors (EAAP) in Mombasa, Matiang’i drew attention to the expanding scope of organized crime, which warrants progressive strengthening of regional cooperation among investigative and prosecutorial agencies.
“We don’t have the luxury of operating in institutional silos in the name of protecting our turf. Now is the time to build strong interdependent relationships amongst ourselves. The nature and dynamics of the organized crimes we are dealing with require greater collaboration for us to succeed,” he said.
He decried an inherent lack of political goodwill, which has largely hampered the sharing of intelligence information among investigative and prosecutorial agencies in the region. He went on to champion for more budgetary support for prosecution offices to help them deliver on their mandates effectively.
“It’s unfortunate that prosecutors are often seen as the enemies of the bloc. As for us [Kenyan government], we have been supporting the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and I am optimistic that we will be the first country in the region to have a fully-fledged training institute for prosecutors,” he said.
He noted strong institutional partnerships across the region will ultimately crush the existing and emerging criminal networks and cells.
He also added that this call is, in all aspects, in tune with the implementation of the East African Community Peace and Security Protocol, which has now become a pre-requisite to socio-economic development in the region.
“The deployment of resources is critical. It’s high time the East African Community and these agencies look into various ways we can pool resources to spend across the borders in this endeavor,” he said.
The overarching theme of the forum is building strong institutional partnerships in the war against transnational organized crime, which now represents a direct threat to global peace and security.
The East African countries are Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya and South Sudan.
JK/abj/APA