Mombasa County Commissioner (CC) Abdrisack Jaldesa has put on notice street families and beggars who took advantage of the holy month of Ramadhan to crowd Mombasa streets.
Speaking during an Idd baraza held at the Treasury Square Gardens Sunday, Jaldesa said there was a surge of street families on the streets because of the generosity of Mombasa residents.
“Every street you pass, you find people sleeping and others begging, but some of them were actually mere pretenders out to fleece members of the public. There are others who abuse children.
Consequently, the police have arrested young people who are physically fit, but were only masquerading as disabled beggars,’’ he said.
However, the County Commissioner has assured that genuine vulnerable street families will be assisted through interventions from both the county and national government.
He said stern action would be taken against those who want to take advantage of the generosity of Muslims and other citizens. “We don’t want street families to crowd the streets as that’s where theft and other crimes happen,’’ Jaldesa added.
The newly deployed County Commissioner assured local leaders of his readiness and commitment to cooperate with them, so as to ensure prosperity of the county.
On the issue of the recent floods that caused havoc in Mombasa town and its environs, Jaldesa said the national government in conjunction with the county administration will distribute food rations to the affected people to ease their suffering.
At the same time, the county commissioner hailed Mombasa residents for maintaining peace during the just concluded the holy month of Ramadhan.
He urged them to continue maintaining peace and tranquility, noting that only then would tourism and the hospitality sector thrive.
On his part, Kisauni MP Rashid Bedzimba thanked the County security leadership for ensuring peace prevailed during the holy month.
“Let us maintain peace to woo investors. Where there is security our youth will get jobs,’’ he said, adding that the ‘Mombasa ni Yangu programme’ has helped to reduce the crime rate in the area.
Bedzimba urged Mombasa leaders to lobby the national Government to reintroduce the white card programme that used to employ the local youth on a three-month contract at the Kenya Ports Authority.
“Our youth are currently disillusioned, if they were to be employed even on contract basis it would benefit many of them and reduce crime rate. We don’t have farms in Mombasa, but we have a port,’’ reiterated the MP.
By Sadik Hassan
