Antecedents of Government Security Programs Implementation Success in Combating Terrorism: A Case of Mandera County, Kenya

Abstract

Security threats remain a major risk to the world and safety at domestic, regional, and international level. It undermines the basic principles of law, justice, human rights, and freedom. Mandera County has been affected by different security threats including acts of terrorism. The need for proper security implementation measures needs to be put in place to deal with incidents of insecurity in the area. The overall objective of the study the study was to examine the antecedents of government security program implementation success; a case of Mandera County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to determine how military presence; communication infrastructure and community policing influence the success of government security program implementation. The study was guided by Institutional Theory. The main research design that was adopted was descriptive correlational survey research design which was of importance in determining the relationship between the variables. The target population for the study was 22,960 people. A sample of 393 individuals who reside in Mandera were selected for this research. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Data collection instrument reliability was accepted at Cronbach’s coefficient alpha 0.7. The background data analysis was analyzed using descriptive statistics version 26 of the SPSS program. The resulting statistics in the form of percentages, means and standard deviation were used to describe the study variables. Out of 393, 323 returned their questionnaire but the remaining did not return. Stratified sampling technique was used in the study. Questionnaire and interview guides were used in data collection. Reliability of the questionnaire and all the construct generated a Cronbach’s alpha above 0.7 and was acceptable reliable. To ensure that the instruments were valid, content validity was used. The collected data was analysed with the help of statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 23.0. Percentages, means, and standard deviation were used for descriptive analysis of the indicators for each variable of the study. An overall mean of 3.0 was a clear indication of the importance of community policing strategies are in the implementation of security programs in Mandera County. Upon testing the hypothesis, an R value of 0.836 was obtained, suggesting a positive strong linear relationship between the independent and dependent variables of the study. Further, military group presence has β=0.396, Communication Infrastructure β=0.167 and Community Policing β=0.319 had an effect on security program implementation success in Mandera County. The study findings will immensely benefit various government policy makers in understanding the extent to which their acts of omission and commission are impacting the success of the security programs put in place in Mandera county and how they can improve the identified areas of weakness.