Piracy forces Kenya to get serious about security

Somalia has become Kenya’s Achilles Heel and dealing with the issue of piracy is critical for the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA).

According to Nancy Karigithu, who last month retired as director-general and chief executive of the KMA, the impact of piracy on the country, its economy and its citizens is huge.

“Vessels started avoiding our region, affecting our trade, tourists started to stay away out of fear for their lives and fishermen found themselves being shot at by armed guards on vessels,” she said. “Kenya became the prosecuting capital for pirates and we had to find ways of dealing with the effects of this on our society. In some ways we continue to pay the piracy price even though piracy has decreased.”

She said in an effort to deal with piracy the country had formed a maritime security committee and a security zone had been created in Kenyan waters.

“In some ways we were caught completely off guard by the piracy issue and had to find our feet very quickly to deal with it,” she said. “One of the valuable lessons we have learnt is the importance of building partnerships with coastal communities and embedding security into our system to reduce vulnerabilities.”

She said the country had also realised that in terms of ongoing maritime security it had to ensure it was gathering information and intelligence on a continued basis. “We have to know what the general picture is of what happens in our waters and the immediate areas off our waters. We need to have surveillance and patrols on an ongoing basis while we have to have the ability to react quickly if necessary.”