Uhuru reaffirms war on drugs

President Uhuru Kenyatta, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta join other Nairobi County leaders in sweeping the road during the launch of the Nairobi City County monthly cleanup campaign at Huruma grounds in Mathare Constituency.   NATION MEDIA GROUP

By AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com

President Uhuru Kenyatta has warned drug traffickers that the government would not relent in hunting them down.

Speaking in Nairobi on Saturday, Mr Kenyatta said his government will continue to fish out peddlers to protect the youth and instead involve them in environmental conservation.

“We have said that we will deal with those selling drugs to our youth. We have also said that we will fight those selling illicit alcohol that continues to ruin our youth,” he told a gathering at Huruma grounds.

The President who was launching a city monthly clean-up campaign said the Jubilee government would engage the youth in environmental conservation projects which will also earn them a living to distract them from drug abuse.

President Kenyatta urged the youth to join groups to take advantage of the Sh6 billion allocated to the youth fund in the 2013-2014 budget once the government starts to disburse the money.

But those already in small businesses in the city lamented that they were being bullied by city county authorities, being charged heavily on licenses for garbage collection and generally lacking premises to conduct their business.

In response, Mr Kenyatta told the crowd he would liaise with the Nairobi county government to designate special places for small-scale traders.

“We cannot succeed as a government if we don’t empower our people to stand on their own. That is why we are saying those in legal businesses should not be harassed. It is something that irritates me,” he said.

“We want to fight criminals but those in legal businesses should not be mistreated because doing that may turn them into criminals. We would see to it that we have special places for them and which we will ask them to do their businesses from.”

The city county askaris often chase down hawkers in Nairobi streets arguing it is illegal to hawk. The hawkers say they want to get nearer to customers.

The cleanup campaign is an initiative of the city county to help regain Nairobi’s former glory as the ‘city in the sun.’ Under the slogan ‘my waste my responsibility’, the county seeks to have city residents make it a tradition to clean where they stay.

“The president said “Let us all as residents of Nairobi and other towns treat cleanliness as a priority”.

And in a city where every resident produces at least half a kilo of waste each day, it means the entire population gives forth two tons of garbage per day, according to Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero. Already, the county has allocated Sh700 million in its budget for environmental conservation, but a lot still needs to be done.

In all of Nairobi rivers for example, fish cannot survive because of the industrial and domestic waste emptied in there. Pollution by vehicles is high, drainage poor and plastic litter all over.

Although the programme will recur every last Saturday of the month, the only dumpsite in Nairobi at Dandora is full and residents want it relocated.

“This dumpsite at Dandora should be moved because it is harming our people,” said local MP George Wanjohi.