Thika MP to launch initiate to curb crime among youth.

Thika MP Patrick Wainaina (centre) presenting his donation to the wife of the slain businessman Paul Kiarie towards his burial arrangements. The MP had visited the bereaved family at their Kiganjo home to console them over the loss of their breadwinner.

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina Wa Jungle has promised to initiate programmes aimed at curbing crime among youth in the town.

Speaking on Saturday when he visited to console the family of Paul Kiarie who was slain by unknown people in Kiganjo Estate early this week, Wainaina said that besides infrastructural development such as good roads and street lighting, his main focus will be on preventing the conditions that draw people into criminal behaviour.

Wainaina promised to address relevant and practical issues to end insecurity through homegrown solutions derived from the residents themselves.

He noted that security was key to rapid, meaningful and social economic development and could never be underrated.

Identifying unemployment as one of the major cause for insecurity, the MP noted that viable and long-lasting solutions were key to solving the problem. He added that it was essential to address unemployment and create work for idle youth who often made the bulk of perpetrators of crime.

“Even though we cannot entirely blame insecurity on lack of employment, we need to address economic inequality which I believe is central to reducing crime in the long run. My main focus will be to facilitate these youth into engaging in income generating activities,” said Wainaina.

The MP added that he would lay emphasis on known security hotspots saying that identifying such places and profiling suspicious characters would reduce their chances of committing crime.

“We need to engage local leaders and make them ‘peace champions’ so that together we shall carry out sustained behaviour change campaigns targeted at reforming and rehabilitating criminals,” he said.

He lamented that insecurity had robbed of the breadwinner to a very young family and there was no way things could be left alone to stay the way they were at the moment.

Nonetheless, the legislator warned that as the area MP, he would not compromise on matters security adding that he will personally follow up the matter to ensure that justice to this family was not only served but done so expeditiously.