Political, Religious and community leaders should embark on empowering youth in Mombasa to deter them from criminal activities.
A youth activist and a mentor from Motivational Talk for the Youth organization at the Coast Usamma Ali Hassan said that youth are involved in many evil things and should be closely guided so that they do not indulge in criminal activities.
Addressing a youth forum at Majengo in Mombasa on Thursday, Usamma said that arresting and bailing out youth from police custody will not bring any change and stakeholders should focus on mentoring the youth so that they are brought up in the right way.
He said that it was time political class, Religious leaders, community leaders and security agents focus more on mentorship and integration programmes instead of arresting and punishing them.
“Everyone is wondering why a twelve year old boy could hold a machete and slash locals demanding money, that’s a sign of a major gap between parents and their children,” he posed.
He added, “Motivational Talk for the Youth is already holding different forums in all the affected areas within Mombasa County and youth are opening up, we only need support from various stakeholders,”
He mentioned poverty, unemployment, drug abuse and peer influence as some of the pushing factors.
However, he singled out drug menace in Mombasa as the major cause of insecurity in the county, ruling out unemployment issue.
“Most of these youth are between 12-18 years old and under their parents care so we cannot fully admit that it is because of unemployment,” he noted.
Likoni, Kisauni, Majengo and Old town areas have been named as some of the hotspots with the security agents conduct a 24 hour crackdown on criminal gangs.
