US ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec (center) and other envoys address the media at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi. (PHOTO/MEDIA GROUP)
The Norwegian ambassador to Kenya Victor Ronneberg says his country will advocate for stability in Kenya as a beacon of hope for Africa.
Ronneberg says Norway will continue to support programmers to help improve the security and stability of Kenya.
The envoy said his country was prepared to support programs for the youths to discourage them from engaging in violent extremism and drug addiction among other vices.
They were speaking in Mombasa County where he opened a Sh15 million youth center built in partnership with Haki Africa, Mombasa county government and Mvita Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
Haki Africa has registered 1100 youths who will use the center to organize sports and promote arts and hence discourage them from hard drugs and violent crimes.
“We want to help Kenya develop. We want it to be secure and stable,” he said commending efforts to fight terrorism.
He also said his country was keen to support the war on drugs, particularly among the Kenyan youth saying drug trafficking was a global problem that requires partnership in stamping out.
“I believe in giving an opportunity to everybody. I also believe in the youth. I want to help Kenya succeed,” he added.
Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid said his organization has brought together youth to focus on meaningful activities. “We were intending to register 500 youth but we ended up getting 1100 of them. We are encouraged by the turnout,” said.
He said with the war in Syria coming to an end, some youths who traveled there are likely to come back and called for care in handling them to avoid forced disappearances.
During the function, Reachout Centre Trust director Taib Basheeib, a crusader against drug addiction, expressed concern over an emerging trend where younger people were falling to drugs and engaging in violent crimes and dropping out school.
According to Basheeib, there is a new set of drug addicts aged between 14 and 18 years who are also violent as they try to raise money to buy the stuff.
He explained that the younger drug users have also turned to abusing pharmaceutical drugs that should be prescribed by medical personnel only.
He attributed the emergence of the new addicts to children’s access to social media content and availability of drugs as drug pushers live in the residential areas.
The Coast region is reputed to have 100,000 drug addicts with 10,000 heroin users coming from Mombasa County.
“Instead of the usual drug addicts aged between 25 and 35, we have a younger group of between 14 and 18 years,” he said