The askari at your gate is a personal choice and can be defined as the implementation of a concept called "Defense in depth" which basically means that you opt not to rely on one security measure alone. This concept is optional and discretionary, for example, I don't have an askari at my gate because I am generally happy about the other measures that have been put in place by Govt, municipality and the neighborhood committee. National security (the sole premise of Government) in this day and age guards against a myriad of actors such as violent non-state actors (this category includes terrorists), narcotic cartels, multinational corporations (believe it or not) and like it or not, non-governmental organisations. Wkipedia quite accurately cites: Measures taken to ensure national security include: - using diplomacy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy> to rally allies and isolate threats - marshalling economic power to facilitate or compel cooperation - maintaining effective armed forces<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_forces> - implementing civil defense <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_defense> and emergency preparedness<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_preparedness> measures (including anti-terrorism legislation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-terrorism_legislation> ) - ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_infrastructure> - using intelligence services<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_service> to detect and defeat or avoid threats and espionage<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage>, and to protect classified information<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information> - using counterintelligence<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterintelligence> services or secret police <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_police> to protect the nation from internal threats I think we should let our government do it's job and engage to the extent that we ensure that our civil liberties are protected. Regards, Brian On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 10:14 AM, McTim <dogwallah@gmail.com> wrote:

not really.

How can we agree that "preservation of security is the role of state organs" when it is patently obvious that most properties in the country need private guards?

rgds,

McTim

On 3/22/12, Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe@gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 9:48 AM, McTim <dogwallah@gmail.com> wrote:

...

On 3/22/12, John Kariuki <ngethe.kariuki2007@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

...

Listers, If we agree that preservation of security is the role of state organs

I think this is disproven by the fact that almost every property in KE has at least one private askari!

I hope that was said tongue-in-cheek...

-- Brian Munyao Longwe e-mail: blongwe@gmail.com cell: +254715964281 blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com

"Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything."

-- Cheers,

McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

-- Brian Munyao Longwe e-mail: blongwe@gmail.com cell: +254715964281 blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com "Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything."