By E, KNA
Garissa Town is slowly falling into the grip of anxiety and fear following the surge of criminal gangs orchestrating daylight robberies and violent attacks.
Young boys aged between 10 and 20 years have formed criminal groups including Squad Chafu, Bulla Mzuri Group, Bulla Rig Group, and use knives and machetes to rob and assault residents.
The situation is so bad that some of the criminal gangs erect illegal roadblocks late at night on some feeder roads in the villages to extort money openly from motorists.
Some hotspots in town are so bad that even boda boda riders are afraid of ferrying clients across those villages because the criminals demand money from the riders.
Security officials in the county say that although they are doing their best to contain the situation and restore order, Maslah, an alternative justice system for the Somali communities has been the biggest let down.
County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo explained, “Once suspects have been arrested and booked at the police stations, elders are dispatched to try to negotiate their release on the basis that they would solve the disputes at home. Where the cases manage to go to court, victims are either paid through the Maslah system or coerced to withdraw the cases or recant their testimonies”, leaving the prosecution unable to proceed,”.
Speaking during a County Jukwaa la Usalama forum organised to devise strategies of dealing with the security challenge, Mwabudzo said that despite the efforts by security teams, victims fail to cooperate therefore securing convictions becomes impossible.
Mwabudzo further called out parents for shielding their children involved in criminal activities instead of teaming up with the security officers to help the children reform through the correctional services.
“Maslah is the biggest challenge we have because even the cases we have in court lack enough prosecutorial weight when the victims, who have either been attacked or robbed recant their testimonies or want to withdraw the cases altogether,” Mwabudzo said.