Assessment into the level of preparedness for worship institutions to respond to terror attacks within Nairobi Central Business District

Abstract

Attacks on worship institutions has become frequent and widespread in Nairobi. Occurrences include St. Theresa Catholic Church in 2012 and Dandora phase II church in 2015. Though the safety of worship centres is a concern to security stakeholders, little studies exist on how these institutions are prepared to such attacks in Nairobi, Kenya. The study aimed to assess the level of preparedness for worship institutions to respond to terror attacks within Nairobi CBD. The study was directed by the following objectives: to examine the nature of training offered to security agents in response to terror attacks on worship institutions, examine the activities undertaken by security agents in response to terror attacks on worship institutions, assess the effectiveness of the strategies put in place to prepare security agents to respond to terror attacks and establish the quality of security equipment in use in response to terror attacks on worship institutions within Nairobi CBD. The study was based on the theory of citizen participation and the anomie theory. The study used a descriptive research design. The study targeted the 13,642 religious’ leaders, worshippers and security agents in Nairobi CBD, where a sample size of 387 was used. The study used stratified random sampling by grouping the respondents into five strata based on the type of respondent. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select respondents from within strata. The study used questionnaires and key informant interviews as research instruments. The reliability of the study was tested using the Cronbach Alpha test, where an overall reliability coefficient of 0.828 was obtained and was considered acceptable to warrant the usability of the questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was ensured by consulting the thesis supervisors, whose suggestions were used to amend the questionnaire accordingly. Raw data was sorted, cleaned and coded into SPSS version 23 for subsequent quantitative analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed and presented using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The results of analyzed data were presented using charts, figures, and tables. The qualitative data from interviews and open-ended questions was analyzed through content analysis relating to specific objectives of the study, and presented using verbatim to corroborate the findings from the questionnaires. The study found that most respondents (43.3%) disagreed that there was training of security personnel and worshippers on terrorism response as well as reporting mechanisms of suspicious terror threats (44.3%). In addition, there was lack of important activities in response to terror attacks such as prioritizing of targets, adequate patrol and allocation of resources to counter terrorism in the worship centres. There is also lack of adequate security equipment such as cameras, alarms and screening security systems to respond to terror attacks (45.3%). The study concluded that the strategies used are not effective in response to terror attacks. The study therefore recommends training of security personnel on various aspects related to terror response, such as mechanisms of reporting suspicious terror threats as well as the importance of security checkups in the facility. The study also recommends that the government need to involve the public and conduct adequate patrol to protect people and assets, which were lacking in the worship institutions. The findings are significant to policymakers, the clergy, worshippers and scholars.