Parents in Garissa have been cited as the weakest link in the fight against run away insecurity in the area.
The town has experienced insecurity incidences in the last two weeks with people killed, mugged, stabbed and shops broken into by criminals some armed.
So bad is the situation that businesses have been closing as early as 6 pm with those located in the outskirts where the incidences have been rampant being the most affected.
Local leaders are now saying said that many parents 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.
The leaders who included Garissa Deputy Governor Abdi Dagane, Garissa Township MP Dekow Mohamed and senior Principle Chief Yussuf Mohamed said that going forward it will no longer be business as usual for such parents and those involved in the crimes.
They were speaking during the graduation ceremony at Al Amaar School in Iftin ward.
MP Dekow wondered why all over sudden gangs and criminals are the ones running the town saying that this was a combination for several factors among the poor paradental responsibility as well as security apparatus not doing their job as is required.
“The recent happening in our town that has been turned into a battle ground should worry all of us. But is also time that we all ask ourselves hard questions. How did we get here in the first place? The answer and solution lies with all of us. Security is a collective responsibility and it starts right at the household level,” he said.
He called on the police not to hesitate to arrest any parent to goes to the police station to have his child who has been arrested released.
“As the area MP I want to tell our officers that anyone who dares go to the police station and seeks to have his child or relative released after being arrested for his involvement in crime should himself or herself be arrested as an accomplice to the crime. As simple as that,” he said.
Garissa Deputy Governor Abdi Dagane said that time has come for the security apparatus to act tough and restore sanity in the town saying that those involved in the incdences were young boys most of them school going.
Garissa senior Principle Chief Yussuf Sheikh said that several people have been arrested since the operation to arrest those involved in the crimes started.
He disclosed the weakest link have been parents who toured a blind eye even when they very know that their children are involved in the 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 will be found with the firearms.
“A major operation involving the police and the provincial administration is in the offing in areas 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 pupil snatched a phone from a women and in the process stabbed her when she tried to resist. He is among those we are interrogating to get his accomplices,” he said.
Last week North Eastern regional Commissioner John Otieno who convened a security meeting raised his concern with parents whom he said have made it a habit to throng police stations to have their children and relatives suspected to be 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 know that you are trading on very dangerous grounds both the giver and the receiver,” he said.
