The Homa Bay County Commissioner (CC), Macharia Irungu has called on the youths and bodaboda operators to take an active role in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
He said unemployed youths and bodaboda operators were vulnerable to being recruited into extremist groups and should therefore be incorporated in the efforts to fight such activities.
Irungu made the remarks on Wednesday in a Homa Bay hotel during a conference to come up with action plan against violent extremism organized by National Counter Terrorism Center in collaboration with the national and the County government of Homa Bay.
He called on the media, civil society and religious groups tocollaborate closely with the government in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
The Homa Bay County Deputy Governor, Hamilton Orata said security was paramount for the realization of the country’s big four agenda, observing that the youths had an important contribution to make in the development of the action plan against extremism.
Orata called for the reinforcement of the Nyumba Kumi initiative to counter all forms of insecurity including violent extremism and terrorism. He also urged the parents to closely monitor their children so as to curb cases of youths being recruited to extremist groups.
The Kabondo Kasipul constituency legislator, Eve Obara lauded the move to come up with an action plan to counter violent extremism for the County, noting that it was regrettable that innocent Kenyans lost lives in terrorist attacks such as the Westgate and Dusit.
The MP said that the boda-boda operators should be roped in fighting insecurity because they can easily identify strangers.
She urged security agencies to come up with an appropriate strategy of protecting whistle blowers and witnesses.
By Davis Langat/ Anne Onyango
