The County Goverment of Mombasa on Monday instructed the revomal of beggers from the central business of the county.
The exercise which was spearheaded by the county inspectorate saw it the removal of about 50 beggars, mostly disabled ones, from the street.
According to the County Inspectorate Director Mohammed Amir, the exercise was meant to "salvage" the helpless beggars from the vagaries of the street, refuting claims that they were oppressing the beggars from removing their source of livelihoods.
However, the move by the County Government did not augur well with some section of Mombasa residents who expressed reservations over the exercise.
These are sample of their reactions over the operations.
Abdalla Hussein said that the County Goverment should construct rehabilitative centres to rehab the beggars instead of ejecting and dumping them into unknown destination.
"The move by the Governor and his team is partially oppressive. The beggars do not have homes and that is why they are camping in the street. Removing them to unknown destination is inhuman, so the county should set up rehabilitative centres to keep them," quipped Abdalla.
Sadik Muzamil wondered why the inspectors officers were roughing up the beggars callously instead of treating them humanly.
"Beggars too are just human being like them. So, the way the official are handling with the helpless fellow is inhuman and horrible," claimed Sadiki.
Joseph Kamau urged the County Goverment to set aside sufficient funds to sustain the ballooning street families in the county.
"I would like to urge the County boss to allocate sufficient funds to deal with the helpless street families in the county. The camping of street families in the streets is not their choice but unavoidable circumstances forced them. That is my request as Mombasa resident," opined Joseph.
The Monday operation saw beggars arrested at Makadara grounds, Saba Saba, Buxton, Digo Road and it is vicinity.