Post: Parents, elders blamed for increased crime in Garissa

Last Saturday, a woman was severely injured after being stabbed by a grade 7 pupil in the outskirts of Garissa town while trying to snatch her phone.Insecurity in the town has been so high, forcing businesses to close as early as 6 p.m.The criminals, most of them in their teens, have been using machetes, knives, pangas, and, in some instances, armed with guns, like in an incident where they made away with Sh1.3 million from an M-pesa agent shop at gunpoint.Local leaders are now blaming parents, arguing that they have either completely abdicated their parental responsibilities or are the ones aiding the crimes committed by their children by not reporting them to the relevant authorities.Elders from different Somali clans have also been accused of going to police stations and seeking the release of suspects connected to crimes.The leaders, who included Garissa Deputy Governor Abdi Dagane, Garissa Township MP Dekow Mohamed, and Senior Principal Chief Yussuf Mohamed, have warned that going forward, it w ill no longer be business as usual for such parents and those involved in the crimes.They were speaking on Saturday during the graduation ceremony at Al-Amaar School in Iftin Ward.MP Dekow wondered why all of a sudden gangs and criminals are the ones running the town, saying that this was a combination of several factors, among them poor paradental responsibility as well as security apparatus not doing their job as required.'Why is it that all of a sudden Garissa Town has been a battle ground for gangs? Why are our children joining gangs, buying motorbikes to use for crimes, walking in groups of three or four, and robbing people in this town? People know these children and all the gangs they are in, and they are our children,' Dekow said.'As the area MP, I want to tell our officers that anyone who dares to go to the police station to seek for their children or relatives released after being arrested for involvement in a crime should be arrested as an accomplice to the crime. As simple as that,' he sai d.Garissa Deputy Governor Abdi Dagane said that the time has come for the security apparatus to act tough and restore sanity in the town, saying that those involved in the incidents were young boys, most of them school-going.Garissa senior Principal Chief Yussuf Sheikh said that several people have been arrested since the operation to arrest those involved in the crimes started.He disclosed that the weakest link has been parents who turn a blind eye even when they know that their children are involved in crimes, saying that the government will go for such parents.He further called on all those keeping guns illegally to surrender them to the police or the local administrators, warning of dire consequences for those who were found with firearms.'A major operation involving the police and the provincial administration is in the offing in areas where we suspect that there could be guns in the wrong hands. In the meantime, we have so far arrested and taken to court many suspects, among them a grade 7 pup il who snatched a phone from a woman and, in the process, stabbed her when she tried to resist. He is among those we are interrogating to get accomplices,' he said.Last week, North Eastern Regional Commissioner John Otieno, who convened a security meeting in Garissa Town, raised his concern with parents, whom he said have made it a habit to throng to police stations to have their children and relatives suspected of being involved in crime released.'I want to make it very clear that nobody should be released because somebody somewhere has either made a call or talked to someone. And if there are people releasing suspects on flimsy grounds after money has changed hands, when such allegations are confirmed, then they know that you are trending on very dangerous grounds for both the giver and the receiver,' he warned.Source : Kenya News Agency