The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior and National Administration Prof Kithure Kindiki has directed Coast regional security team to tighten the noose on criminal gangs fond of terrorizing law abiding citizens.
Speaking when he commissioned ten Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) at the Port of Mombasa Tuesday, the CS warned that the days of criminals are numbered.
CS Kindiki promised that the emerging cases of mugging in the Port City of Mombasa would be dealt with by the police once and for all.
“I want to come back to Mombasa after two or three weeks. I don’t want to hear a single incident of mugging or street thuggery. These boys who are terrorizing wananchi, we must find a way of either asking them to stop and if they don’t stop we stop them,” said CS Kindiki.
“Mombasa is a tourist town. It is a good place that occupies a very strategic position in the economy of our country and we don’t want Mombasa to be insecure,” he added.
Last month, criminals were captured by a Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) mugging a shopper along Haile Selassie road.
Few days after the incident that went viral on social media, Mombasa County Commissioner Mohamed Noor assured visitors of heightened security as more than 200 suspected criminals were nabbed in a swoop.
CC Noor also directed the halting of a feeding programme being conducted by a cement firm as it harbours criminals who become aggressive once they are full and were a menace to pedestrians. Most of the street families are from the neighbouring Kilifi and Kwale counties.
The County Security and Intelligence Committee (CSIC) contacted the cement firm to suspend the free food distribution. The CC termed the programme noble in assisting the less fortunate but noted that it has been infiltrated by criminals.
The CC challenged philanthropists to devise a long-term solution to empower the youths to earn a living as opposed to giving them free food which he noted was not sustainable in the long run.
“Criminals when they are full after eating breakfast, lunch and supper start to mug people. As a government, we will not allow the continuation of that. If we want to help people it must be well structured,” said the CC.
By Sadik Hassan
