Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet (L) receiving a gift hamper from Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho (R). [Photo: Hassan Joho/ facebook.com]
Mombasa politicians have been challenged to tame the mushrooming juvenile criminal gangs within the county.Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Gullet warned that if the issue is left to the police, the county might face a major security crisis in the coming months.Addressing residents and political leaders at the Tudor Sub-County Hospital in Mombasa during the launch of a maternity wing, Gullet said youth aged between 14 to 21 years will in the future turn out to be dangerous armed criminals.Gullet said though the organisation was already conducting a rehabilitation programme for the youth, the programme needed an expansion with political leaders joining hands."I challenge you to focus more on the youth since we thought it was only within Old Town and Kisauni area but Changamwe and Likoni sub-counties are now burning, wake up and solve this problem,” said Gullet.Gullet said the humanitarian organisation was working with other partners to ensure that various programmes geared towards improving the lives of youth are launched in Mombasa in a bid to quell the security situation in the county.He appealed to the political leaders to assist in the fight against the emergence of criminal gangs in Mombasa.“We have already assisted some of the youth whom their photos were circulated by the police terming them as dangerous and most wanted criminals but we are here to give them a second chance and help them become useful young people in the society," he noted.On his part, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho assured Gullet of his full support and partnership in taming juvenile gangs in Mombasa through social approach.