Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina. He has promised to initiate programmes aimed at curbing crime among youths. [Photo|Thika Today]Thika Town MP Eng Patrick Wainaina will initiate programmes aimed at reducing crime among youths living in Thika Town.Speaking on Sunday when he visited the family of the slain Thika businessman Paul Kiarie, who was murdered at his Kiganjo Estate home by unknown assailants, Wainaina said that he will work to create opportunities for the youths to discourage them from criminal behaviour.“Even though we cannot entirely blame insecurity on lack of employment, we need to address economic inequality which I believe is central to reducing crime in the long run. My main focus will be to facilitate these youth into engaging in income generating activities,” said Wainaina.Wainaina also promised to address relevant and practical issues to end insecurity through homegrown solutions derived from the residents themselves.“We need to engage local leaders and make them ‘peace champions’ so that together we shall carry out sustained behaviour change campaigns targeted at reforming and rehabilitating criminals,” he said.The MP added that he would lay emphasis on known security hotspots saying that identifying such places and profiling suspicious characters would reduce their chances of committing a crime.The MP who was elected on an independent ticket lamented that insecurity had robbed the young family its breadwinner to saying that the culprits must be brought to book.Kiarie was murdered at the beginning of this week in unclear circumstances by gunmen who waylaid him.

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