Case study 5: Nairobi Business District Association
1. Introduction
The Nairobi Central Business District Association (NCBDA) executes work on behalf of the public and its private partners in the Nairobi Central Business District. It does not own any of the infrastructures that are improving crime prevention at the city centre. The NCBDA is not only concerned with crime prevention but other ills that the centre of Nairobi faces, such as poor infrastructure and an environment that has deteriorated over the years.
The NCBDA felt that the role players in crime prevention were as follows: (a) the NBCDA with its diverse membership; (b) the Nairobi City Council; (c) the Kenya Police Force; and (d) Development Partners, which include The Ford Foundation and UN Habitat.
The Kenya Police Force's mandate, from the viewpoint of the NCBDA is to provide expertise as a background to the NCBDA's work. Particularly important is its provision of crime statistics. The NCC's mandate is the legal approval of NCBDA activities, from street sweeping to street lighting proposals. The mandate of the private partners is to support the NCBDA activities. The Rotary Club, for example has taken on an annual Police Award Scheme. Others have taken on the Police Information Centres initiative.
The NCBDA sees its mandate as directed to doing something positive with regard to (i) security and safety;1 (ii) high city centre council rates;2 (iii) services not provided for.3
The NCBDA was convinced that all these combinations of problems impact negatively on the citizens of Nairobi, potential investors and ordinary visitors.
The NCBDA's legal basis of crime prevention is that it is registered as a society under Cap 108 of the Laws of Kenya. This enables the outsourcing of services it requires through partnerships. It also means that it is officially recognised and can thus work hand in hand with government and non-governmental organisations and institutions.
The NCBDA functions fall under two broad spatial coverages. The 'inner' and core CBD is delimited by (a) the Uhuru Highway; (b) University Way; (c) Moi Avenue; and (d) Haile Selassie Avenue. Please refer to Figure 13. However, the NCBDA jurisdiction permits it to cover the CBD "and environs". The latter is not defined spatially but is reckoned to include the whole of the City of Nairobi.
Figure 13: The NCBDA Central Nairobi jurisdiction
The NCBDA maintains that its image is contained in its motto 'The NCBDA - Improvement Through Action'. The NBCDA rates itself as doing a good to excellent job of meeting its city centre objectives. It vows that so far it has not been condemned by anybody or institution for what it stands for. Its leader, Philip Kisia, has been proposed in some quarters to stand for Mayor of Nairobi.
The public image of the NCBDA is also favourable. It is perceived as a serious organisation in its pursuit for change in the CBD. The media has given it a high approval rating.
1.2. Crime prevention mandate
The NCBDA recognises the particular mandate of the Nairobi City Council that is in place through Local Government Authority Act Cap 265 of the laws of Kenya.
The NCBDA feels, however, that the mandate for crime prevention and other tasks in the centre of Nairobi has run into problems in two areas. The first was the intractable problems relating to the Nairobi City Council service delivery. The second comes out of a `global wave', which coincided with Nairobi's problems, in which there was an almost universal recognition that institutions such as the Nairobi City Council cannot manage a city on their own. The feeling is that there is a need to incorporate the private sector and communities in the implementation of plans.
The NCBDA view is that there is a definite link between crime prevention initiatives at a metropolitan level, i.e. that the efforts of one initiative support the efforts of the other initiatives.
1.3. Partnership
Basically the partnership the NCBDA has with other stakeholders is one that looks at solving the problems of the Nairobi Central Business District. From the NCBDA's viewpoint the partnerships work in the following manner:
- Nairobi City Council - the NCC as a partner needs to be informed
of The NCBDA's plans Secondly, the NCC has a role to play, especially
in the need to quickly approve development requests which are within its mandate.
- Kenya Police Force - the Kenya Police should take over their
security docket. The NCBDA does not have any problems with this.
- Public/Private Partnerships - the NCBDA has had fruitful partnerships with other members of the private sector in its work in the central business district. These are essentially part of the NCBDA itself. Notable partners include the Chandaria Foundation, with which its working relationship is in excellent standing.
The NCBDA maintains that no partnerships are entered into until distinct roles are agreed upon. Nevertheless, the NCBDA has its own views on the past and current relationships with its partners.
- Nairobi City Council - the NCBDA relates to the NCC officially in areas
where the latter needs to render opinions or services. The NCBDA also lobbies
for special favours from the NCC.4
- Kenya Police - the NCBDA works closely with the Provincial Police Office
and its structure within the city. As already mentioned elsewhere in this
study, Nairobi Province is divided into seven divisions. Nairobi's CBD falls
under one of the divisions. Thus any issues that need be discussed are handled
by Station Commanders.5
- Public/Private Partnerships - the PPP, which is part of the NCBDA, uses the organisation as a conduit for channeling needed resources, allowing over-stretched public services such as the Kenya Police to receive private donations. Past examples include the donation of vehicles and telecommunications equipment.
The NCBDA feels that the partnership with the NCC is not particularly satisfactory, that the NCC does not appear to be fully committed and that there is an underlying unwillingness to fully cooperate with the NCBDA. It is the feeling of the NCBDA that the NCC is suspicious of the intentions of the organisation and is thus not fully committed to working together. Given the work that the NCBDA has undertaken at the city centre, the NCC returns hardly any
favours. The feeling is that although responsiveness is put at 70%, there is still room for improvement.
The NCBDA feels that its partnership with the Kenya Police Force is excellent although not perfect. It is its opinion that the police are responsive to the NCBDA's needs. There was a feeling that despite being the most closed stakeholder, the police was going through a "wave of opening up", as in the establishment of Police Information Centres. Private/Public Partnerships are seen as an essential arm of The NCBDA's needs, and the view is that they are an essential part of a complete working relationship.
Figure 14: The NCBDA coordination with CBD partners
The key factor that keeps the NCBDA together is 'public goodwill'. It tries to avoid public despondency and a poor public attitude. The good work that the NCBDA does, it feels, is the basis of the good public image of the organisation. Also assisting this is the transparency of what it does and the manner of its use of funds. The speed and efficiency of running projects is also a major plus for the NCBDA.
A factor that is promoting a good working relationship between the NCBDA and the Kenya Police is the latter's recent `wave of opening up' not only to the organisation but also to the public, for example through Police Information Centres. Another factor holding the partnership together is that the Kenya Police, having failed at and recognised their weaknesses in some areas of crime prevention, have realised the need for other stakeholders in crime prevention.
The same line of argument applies to the elements holding together the NCBDA's relationships with the Nairobi City Council.
The initial frequency of meetings with the NCC when the NCBDA was forming as an organisation was monthly. At the time the meetings were with both the NCC politicians and technocrats. Today meetings are predominantly with the Chief Officers i.e. the technical members of the NCC, almost on a daily basis.
However, a serious constraint faced by the NCBDA is that they can only meet both the counselors and Chief Officers at full council meetings, which are not really suitable occasions for an exchange of views.
There are at least five committees and boards at which the NCBDA meets with the Kenya Police with regard to the issues facing the CBD.6 These meetings are typically several times in a normal working day. Telephonic meetings are on a more or less continuous basis.
Meetings with their principal private partners are as frequent as necessary, by request of either party.
With regard to communication with both the Kenya Police and other partners, the NCBDA considers that there is room for further improvement in communication and frequency of meetings.
The NCBDA is an organisation that looks at the issues at the CBD and then seeks the resources to solve the problems identified. It consults with experts and involves all the relevant partners for a given project. An example of this was the formulation of a new vision for Nairobi with the stakeholders. This is expressed as 'Choice of Africa; Secure, Clean, Vibrant and a Home for all'
2. Crime prevention approach
2.1. Citywide crime prevention initiativesThe NCBDA has over ten initiatives in the city centre.7 These will be considered in detail in the following sections. However the most outstanding in the view of the Project Coordinator are the NCBDA's range of Community Policing initiatives and technical exchanges with other cities, the police, NCC, and the media.
The emphasis of the NCBDA is on `safety and cleanliness'. Thus the generic approach to crime prevention is through situational engineering and law enforcement. The NCBDA realises that it made an error of omission by ignoring social control of crime prevention. This is, however, really not applicable at the city centre as there is a very limited resident population in the city centre.
However, aspects of social engineering are taken into consideration, as in socially de congesting the centre by utilising social and cultural infrastructure facilities on the periphery of the city centre.
The enforcement of the law itself is not felt to be a problem. However its supervision by a third party is what presents problems. For example the NCBDA will inform the police of problem areas, but it is entirely up to the police how matters are handled. The arbitrary actions of some members of the Police Force may itself work against the intended outcomes.
2.2. Philosophy on crime and crime prevention
The NCBDA reported that it valued knowledge of the multiple dimensions of crime in the city centre. The seriousness of intent is evidenced by the 'Nairobi Streets Families Survey Report' of June 2001, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. This drive for information, it was claimed, was important if dealing with criminals was to be proactive. The NCBDA places value on preempting crime, as in the Community Policing approach, which will work with criminals.
Knowledge of the prevalence of 'soft' or 'hard' crimes will, in the view of the NCBDA, mean the deployment of manpower appropriately within their areas of expertise and jurisdiction. It helps make decisions on which officers, which firearms and what tactics to arrange for in given situations.
2.3. Various crime prevention approaches
The NCBDA has tried out the following eight crime prevention approaches: (i) the erection of 12 (Kenya Police) Information Posts in the central business district; (ii) Policing and Community Safety Project; (iii) meeting community leaders; (iv) training in community policing; (v) youth organisations; (vi) Community Policing Forum; (vii) Friends of the Police; and (viii) the landscaping of the CBD. The training of counselors is a crime prevention initiative that has not been implemented as yet.
I will now summarise the content of the above crime prevention approaches.
- Information booths; these are seen as a deterrent to crime and bringing
police closer to the public.8 They are centres
where the public may seek information. They also double as temporary holding
posts for arrested offenders. I tested a few of these posts and the officers
were friendly enough but appeared poor at giving directions. Although highly
visible and painted in Kenya Police colours, these posts were not always manned.
- Policing and Community Safety Projects; the
NCBDA uses these as a means of sensitising and
motivating communities to perform a positive role
in crime prevention.
- Meeting Community Leaders; this is a tripartite approach in which the NCBDA,
the Kenya Police and the community exchange information relating to crime
prevention.
- Training in community policing; this targets police officers with training
sessions, information exchange, interaction and exposure and is a morale booster
for the forces.
- Youth organisations; although not really operative at the city centre,
as there is a very limited resident population, these nevertheless target
the most vulnerable population. They focus on what society can do in terms
of strategies to counter crime.
- Community Policing Forum; this takes place at the level of the local
police station. It is where community representatives work hand in hand with
police on a one-to-one basis. The benefits are that leaders and the police get
to know each other, without being disrespectful or being afraid of embarrassment.
They also get to know each other's crime concerns.
- Friends of the Police; although not yet registered at the time of the field
interviews, the idea here is that one has an informal gathering of any concerned
persons, to give suggestions and moral support.
- Landscaping and beautification; the basic belief here is that "cleanliness is next to godliness". The NCBDA believes in the values of an aesthetic environment. The city of tension is likely to accommodate a criminal element. Beautiful surroundings create a relaxed atmosphere. The NCBDA, in conjunction with the NCC and private sector, has removed the garbage from the area of jurisdiction.
The NCBDA argues that the ratio of Kenya Police officers to the public at the city centre is something in the order of 1:4 000, and that it is not realistic to expect an adequate service given these numbers. All the above crime prevention approaches arise from the fact that the police are unable to do the job they are asked to perform; they also lack the tools of their trade, i.e. information communications technology, logistics and mobility. They are poorly remunerated and their welfare situation, such as housing, is abysmal.
The NCBDA's models of crime prevention are dynamic, in that they try to improve them literally every day. If levels of crime decline, then the model is deemed to be working. The NCBDA then works out the merits and demerits of an initiative. However, an important underlying factor is the prevailing political regime.9
The NCBDA considers that the crime prevention models they apply in Nairobi's city centre are half foreign and half local. They cite the 'Koban System' from Japan as the origin of the information booths, and Community Policing adopted from South Africa and Britain. The NCBDA sifts through the basic ideas, whist considering the Nairobi context, the Nairobi public and the prevailing 'mood'. They do take chances and gauge how far they can prevail with an approach. Thus it is a mix of borrowing and adaptation of a variety of models.
2.5. Jurisdiction
The NCBDA crime prevention models target everybody.10 Of particular importance are the youth; the NCBDA deems that many parents have abdicated their responsibilities. Schools are also targeted in an 'adopt-a-cop' model.11 The overall idea here is that the juvenile delinquent does not mix with 'hard core' criminals.
The problems of Nairobi's commercial sex workers, 'threatening to take over Nairobi', remains a topic that is overlooked by the NCBDA crime prevention approaches, as well as the rest of society. Sex workers tend to be treated as cultural outcasts rather than a criminal problem. Another omission on the part of the NCBDA approaches are the crimes centring on street children and the homeless.12
The NCBDA, like all other stakeholders in crime prevention, considers that a metropolitan vision is long overdue. Nevertheless, there is still the problem of a lack of synergy between law enforcement agencies, stakeholders and the public which would allow them to agree on who should perform which functions in crime prevention in Nairobi. The barrier is a political one, which has in the past also caused important attempts to create this vision to flounder.
The public are the collective beneficiaries of these crime prevention approaches.
The centre of Nairobi is the present territorial beneficiary of the approach; the CBD's periphery will gain with the lateral expansion of The NCBDA's activities.
2.6. Process
The various crime prevention approaches outlined above link various role players together. Some of the stakeholders are not comfortable with these new emergent arrangements. However, the NCBDA believes that PPPs are the global wave, the way forward. Modernisation calls for the working together of diverse peoples and organisations. The rapid growth in Nairobi's population and the imperatives of the economy has forced the coming together of different interest groups.
- The relationship with the police was historical; they worked together.
- The links with neighbourhood associations came out of a realisation that
the NCC and NCCI could not manage the city alone; there was a need for stakeholder
inputs, and there were prospects of mutual understanding and benefits.
- The NCC's legal obligations forced the process of integration.
The other role players were drawn into the process with the NCBDA in the following way:
The catalyst for the development of the strategies was population growth, the deteriorating situation in Nairobi and the pressure to do something about it.
It was the people on the ground who came up with the concept that because the issues where so overwhelming, those who had similar problems should meet and do something about it. Next it was suggested that the NCC, the Kenya Police and the private sector come together for the conceptualisation, implementation and monitoring of the new approaches. All these involved public launches and keeping an 'open door' policy. The media were to play a pivotal role and the public, while the least visible, was the most influential.
The first step was to look at the situation, agree on the problems and suggest solutions collectively. Arrangements were then made for their implementation, taking cognizance of financial and time constraints and weighing the merits of short-term, easy and practical solutions.
Initiatives took place in the late 1990s, when the economy of Nairobi and the nation was on a downward spiral. The NCBDA initiated most of the crime prevention initiatives. It also got hold of consultants to work out the legal details of what it was embarking on. It thus had a hands on approach to the initiatives.
The initiative arose out of the development of the residents' associations, specifically the WCDI initiative.
The assortment of crime prevention initiatives took different directions in their strategic development. Some, such as the police information posts, were developed in cooperation with the partner institution, in this case the Kenya Police Force.
Other crime prevention strategies arose from internal developments within the NCBDA as well from the exchange of ideas with what could be loosely referred to as 'international partners or exposure'.
In all cases, whether initiatives were international or local in origin, it was necessary to reach consensus on the best approach to implementing the idea with the potential or existing partners. The basic premise was that one was as open as possible with the potential associates without fear of a 'financial ambush' or being locked in a policy cu-de-sac at some time in the negotiations.
The NCBDA added that a useful strategy was to learn from previous strategy developments. This they felt would be very useful, given that the NCBDA has only realised some of the long list of their crime prevention initiatives.<
As the NCBDA was born out of the WCDI idea, this was naturally a reference base, but because the latter was predominantly residential in content, the NCBDA as a city centre initiative had to rely in its own internal dynamics to develop specific strategies. The pioneering stature of the organisation at the city centre meant that there were no local models, council or otherwise, to fall back on.
The NCBDA did not wish to take over the constitutionally defined roles of the City Fathers nor the Kenya Police Force. Rather, it was incumbent upon the NCBDA to demonstrate to a generally skeptical Nairobi populace alternative approaches to problem solving and the advantages of working together.13 It was only after concrete manifestations of its efforts were seen that the other role players came on board.
The NCBDA's strategies are a mixture of situational improvements and social engineering. Most of its focus is currently on the former, as the latter will require a longer period of interaction with the public. Visible policing is not really its docket, though many of the organisation's initiatives reinforce this important aspect of crime prevention
The crime prevention strategies fall into overlapping categories. (i) The exchange of information covers a large part of the NCBDA approaches in crime prevention. The NCBDA by design has segregated its dissemination of crime prevention information to the youth, the public, police officers, the NCCI, and city counselors (in the pipeline). (ii) The second approach is retraining, or exposing stakeholders to alternative approaches to solving the city centre's problems. (ii) Another approach is acting as a supportive, synergistic conduit between an empathetic private sector and an appreciative public.
- Kenya Police information posts. The spreading of 12 posts in addition to
the two police stations and the police headquarters within the centre aims
to make the police more accessible to the public. The desired outcome is that
these will become information points within the city and temporary holding
points for suspects.
- Policing and Community Safety Project. The strategy
in this approach is that of motivating and channeling
the public's energies to render positive services
in crime prevention. The desired outcome is greater
participation of the public in crime prevention.
- Meeting community leaders. This strategy brings together the Kenya Police,
communities and the NCBDA for the exchange of crime prevention and other related
information. Positive outcomes are measured by the greater cooperation of
the three stakeholders in crime prevention in their respective jurisdictions.
- Training in Community Policing. This is a strategy focused on the Kenya
Police and the manner in which they should and could relate to the public.
The strategy also aims through PPP to bolster police morale. The success of
the strategy is indicated by the number of police support projects under way
and the police's opening up to the `new wave' of approaches to crime prevention.
- The landscaping of the CBD. The idea behind this strategy is simply that Nairobi's centre be cleared of the mountains of garbage that characterised it a few years ago, on a sustainable basis. A further strategy objective is to beautify Nairobi, perhaps getting it back to conditions which reflect its glorious past. An uncluttered and functional CBD would indicate the success of this strategy.
The above strategies have been implemented concurrently. An important controlling factor is the availability of finances and the willingness of stakeholders to work together.
6.3. Implementation
6.3.1. The Implementation of strategiesThe Office of the Project Coordinator is responsible for the implementation of the considerable number of crime prevention initiatives. As a general rule an individual crime prevention strategy has its own cycle of fund raising, meetings, facilitation, development and evaluation.
As the NCBDA relies on the goodwill of individuals, companies, the donor community and the public, the implementation of the strategies depends on how these above factors interact favourably for any given strategy.
The responsibilities for monitoring of crime prevention approaches vary. Those which fall under the docket of the Kenya Police or the Nairobi City Council Inspectorate are monitored by the organ responsible. The NCBDA is still finding its way in working out a more refined monitoring/statistics keeping system. Therefore there are still some gaps in the system.
As already pointed out, the implementation time frames are annualised. Being essentially dependent on the goodwill of the private sector, the donor community and the public, the NCBDA has to plan with the development/financial cycles of its benefactors in mind. The dependency on external finances means that part of its planning is to appeal to a wider circle of donors as the NCBDA takes on a wider range of city-centre activities.
Different degrees of implementation of the NCBDA strategies have taken place. Clearly the most visible are the police posts and a much cleaner city centre. As these two strategies are highly visible, it is much easier to reach a consensus as to the success of implementation.
Community policing, meeting community leaders and youth organisations and similar strategies require a more in-depth analysis to determine the success of their implementation. A further complication is that these initiatives are spread throughout the CBD. This is not a simple exercise. For example, whilst success of implementation can be evidenced by the private sector's handing over of vehicles or cash rewards to the Police Force, which boosts their morale, nevertheless this goodwill does not correspond with the perceived and actual levels of crime in the CBD. Therefore determining the correlations between the different strategies requires in-depth analysis.
The NCBDA felt that their inter-agency cooperation with the Kenya Police was working 'excellently', as the NCBDA had free access to all Kenya Police Officers. There was a great deal of goodwill and an acknowledged partnership at work, where the NCBDA organised support of sorts.14
On the other hand the links between the NCC and the NCBDA were described as 'average to below average'. It was claimed that the NCC officers tended to have no sense of ownership of the ongoing projects and that they did not work as a team and did not appreciate the NCBDA's work.
The NCBDA recommended that: (i) Stakeholders in crime prevention must learn to trust one another, as nobody (to their knowledge) wished to substitute themselves for established government crime prevention organs. (ii) There was a clear need to support one another's work within the city centre, as no single organisation had the capacity to solve the problems currently in dire need of solution. (iii) The public at the city centre needed to be more involved in rescuing Nairobi from what were basically man-made problems.
4. Best practice and lessons learnt
4.1. Best practice: major successes and failures of the approachesThe NCBDA estimated that 60% of police approaches were successful. However, there were failures due to the following: (i) the Kenya Police lacked manpower; (ii) there was no legal manoeuvre to enforce goodwill on the part of stakeholders; (iii) there was inadequate publicity, especially for vulnerable groups, information was simply not flowing smoothly; (iv) Kenya Police officers seemed to lack Public Relations (PR) training; and (v) the police were also subject to frequent transfers.
With respect to the Community Safety Programme, it was estimated that this was approximately 50% successful. Success was evident where there was goodwill. There were also programmes in line such as 'Youth for Habitat', the NCC Social Services and general landscaping of the city centre. Work that had been undertaken showed prospects of further success.
4.2. Lessons learnt
The NCBDA felt it was too early to make a proper evaluation of its strategies, although there had been clear successes. Some of the major disappointments were to do with the dispensations they felt they deserved from the Nairobi City Council in terms of lowered rates for businesses in the heart of Nairobi which created wealth for the city and country. A further disappointment was related to hawkers (the informal sector) and their organisations, which were either blind to crime or refused to cooperate in crime prevention.
A major lesson learnt is that even in the face of success, there will always be skeptics who make one's work a little bit more difficult.
4.3. Planning considerations
The NCBDA pointed out that crime prevention in Nairobi and Kenya had traditionally been located in the security sector portfolio within the Kenya Police Force and the NCC's Inspectorate with respect to Nairobi. It therefore did not appear as an integrated issue within the City of Nairobi, but rather as a sector problem within the Nairobi Provincial Administration.
The question here was whether the NCC Planning Department had adequately considered the existing metropolitan crime prevention strategy within their planning work. The answer here was a definite 'No'.
The major lesson is that planning departments must consider crime prevention along with their other traditional considerations in any future plan for the City, as the level of crime could attract or repel the potential investor or visitor to Nairobi.
The NCBDA felt that a crime prevention approach that was more participatory on the part of the NCC would be healthy as this would send a message to interested parties.
4.4. Benefits for local government
The NCBDA felt that studies such as this one could be useful as (i) parameters by which the different stakeholders could gauge their performance. This could form a kind of international benchmarking exercise; (ii) a basis for the support of unplanned settlements, especially in terms of infrastructure developments that impinge on the efficiency of crime prevention.
A local authority must itself be open to external suggestions, especially if its current approaches have problems or its planned deliverables are not happening. Local authorities should work from a 'win-win' mind set, because there are many willing corporations and the public, who care and will support crime prevention but are deflected from action because of mixed messages from City Hall.
Notes
These are basically the armed robberies that take place at the city centre and crime statistics that show a considerable impact of crime on Nairobi's residents.It was felt that the Council was charging rates which were too high for businesses. They were twice as high as those for residential areas. The main points of contention were the provision of water and garbage collection.
Concern was expressed over the losses arising from traffic jams (such as fuel and man-hours lost), Nairobi's roads very in a bad state, traffic junction signals were in a bad or non-functional state and traffic officers were few or not to be found where they should be.
Some of these favours, the NCBDA, felt were straight forward and would have had positive results for the city centre; however the NCC is often slow in responding in time to some initiatives.
The NCBDA had a list of all the Commandants of Nairobi's Police Stations and police posts, including contact persons and telephonic details, which were updated on a regular basis.
These committees include (a) Community Policing Trust Fund, (b) Community Policing Forum, (c) Security and Traffic Forum, (d) Community Policing Advisory Board, (e) Safety and Policy Program Advisory Committee.
The NCBDA initiatives include (a) Ten Information Posts in the CBD, (b) Policing and Safety Project, (c) Meeting Community Leaders, (d) Training in Community Policing, (e) Youth Organisations, (f) Community Policing Forums, (g) Kenya Friends of the Police Forum, (h) Landscaping the CBD and (i) Training of Councilors (j) Shoeshine Shelters.
Aside Vigilante House, the national Kenya Police Force headquarters, the Kenyatta Conference Centre Police Station and the Central Police Station along University Way to the north of the CBD are the only other police stations at the centre of Nairobi.
This claim will meet an acid test, now that there has been a radical regime change in Kenya, with the NARC Government facing institutionalised corruption head-on.
The NCBDA believes that they are trying to correct what has gone wrong with family socialisation that traditionally kept crime levels low.
Whether this model has been implemented in the CBD or not could not be established at the time of the study.
The NCBDA as well as the police confirmed that street children are used by criminals to carry weapons, stolen property and drugs.
This was of course made relatively 'easy' by a public which was on the whole eager for functional and viable alternatives for cleaning the city centre and crime prevention.
The NCBDA has been the force behind some recent benefits the Police Force received via the goodwill of Nairobi's citizenry who see the need to materially support the Police. During the field research there was excitement as the NCBDA's Project Coordinator was about to hand over another vehicle donation to the Police.
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