An alarm has been raised over the increasing number of street children within Kisumu County.
Speaking to journalists on Monday at Victoria Park, Kisumu East District Peace Committee Chairman Anthony Muite said most of the street children are starting to be involved in crimes and petty theft around the town.
He said the grown up street boys are so many within the central business district, and also around estate Kibuye market, Bus Park and other areas.
“Most of these children engage in unlawful activities like stealing, drug abuse and even irresponsible behavior,” he said.
Muite called upon the relevant authority and the national government to come in and curb the menace that is hindering business activities within Kisumu.
He said they do not know the relevant institution that is concerned with the street boys hence something should be done. The problem is bringing a lot of confusion because they are not sure whether the street boys are working for the county council or not.
“Most of the time we see them in the county council garbage lorries and we are left wondering if they have been employed or not,” he said.
He said instead of the children being protected from the harmful culture an exploitation they are been exploited by the same county government.
“These are the same people who should be looking into step they can take to reduce the number but are the same people using the urchins,”he said.
He added that they are not sure how the county government will tackle the problem but they should look into ways of reducing the numbers.