Joho orders street families kicked out of town, returned to their homes

Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho and county executive for water Fatuma Awale address tourism stakeholders from the county on May 27, 2016 at Tamarind hotel. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Speaking at Tamarind Hotel in Mombasa on Friday during a tourism stakeholders meeting, the governor said the county would round up all the children and transport them back to their homes.
  • Earlier, Pollman’s Tours and Safaris managing director Khalid Shapi said Mombasa had become a begging city due to large number of street families and children.
  • Mombasa County inspectorate director Charles Changawa said an operation to get rid of street children was already under way, adding that the department had so far arrested 143 children.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has ordered the county inspectorate department to round up more than 10,000 children begging in the town’s streets and ferry them back to their places of origin.

Mr Joho said the children were a security risk as some rob people at night while others engage in petty crime.

He explained that street families and children also mess up the resort town by relieving themselves on the streets.

The governor added that the street children had become a nuisance to locals and tourists by begging for cash and food.

He said that although the county had previously rounded up the children and taken them back to their counties of origin, officials in those counties helped them return to Mombasa by giving them money for fare.

“From today, I want the inspectorate department to get rid of all the street families and children from the streets as they are a security menace,” he said.

Speaking at Tamarind Hotel in Mombasa on Friday during a tourism stakeholders meeting, the governor said the county would round up all the children and transport them back to their homes.

Earlier, Pollman’s Tours and Safaris managing director Khalid Shapi said Mombasa had become a begging city due to large number of street families and children.

The tour operator explained that the children were spoiling the town’s reputation by accosting tourists and begging for money and food.

“Time has come for the county to address the street children menace in the town as it is getting out of hand and frustrating tour firms working hard to bring tourists to Mombasa,” he said.

Another tour operator, Patrick Kamanga, said a majority of the street urchins had parents, who send them to the town to beg for cash.

He noted that a study had shown that most of the street families come from Kilifi County while others were from upcountry and as far away as Kampala, Uganda.

Mr Kamanga said that through his own initiative, he was educating 128 children who used to beg in the streets of Mombasa.

“There are some street children from Kampala who were brought to Mombasa by trucks while many of them come from Mariakani,” he said.

He said the county needs to take tough action against the street families and children.

“The reason the families and children are in the streets is that people give them money,” he said.

“If people stop giving them cash, the issue of street families and children in Mombasa could come to an end.”

Shehnai restaurant proprietor Zul Harunani called on the county to rid the town of street families and children as one way of addressing crime.

He said the street urchins like to steal motor vehicle parts among other valuables, adding that unless they were cleared from the streets, they might turn into hard-core criminals.

Mombasa County inspectorate director Charles Changawa said an operation to get rid of street children was already under way, adding that the department had so far arrested 143 children.

He added that the county would arrest the street families and children and transport them back to Kilifi and other counties.