President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday directed that the Miritini National Youth Service (NYS) in Mombasa be converted into a drug addicts’ rehabilitation centre.
Uhuru also asked Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa and area regional Police Commander Robert Kitur to submit an action plan to him in two weeks on how they intend to combat the drug menace at the Coast.
The President was speaking at State House Mombasa where he met several key leaders from the Coast. Coast Parliamentary Group (CPG) chairman who is also the Kilifi North MP, Gideon Mung’aro, who presented a memorandum to the President, termed the discussions as “candid, constructive and fruitful”.
“It is time for development for our people. We want to partner with the government to make sure problems bedeviling our people have been solved,” said Mung’aro.
Mombasa County women representative Mishi Mboko said other demands they presented in the memorandum include the revival of coconut and cashew nut factories.
The leaders also asked the President to intervene in the standoff between Mombasa County and Kenya Ports Authority over the sharing of revenue collected from the port. The MPs present said the President also revealed that land adjudication exercise on the controversial 930-acre Waitiki farm in Likoni, Mombasa will be complete in three weeks.
The said exercise will pave way for the issuance of title deeds to the over 100,000 squatters living on the land, according to the president who reportedly said the government was sure that it will reach an agreement with land owner Evanson Waitiki.
Waitiki had last week questioned the government’s move to adjudicate his land without his consent but yesterday The Standard on Saturday established that already dozens of surveyors and physical planners have been dispatched to the region to carry out land adjudication exercise in readiness for the issuance of titles.
The National Land Commission Chairman Mohamed Swazuri said the surveyors had until August 20 to finish the survey but the deadline has been postponed for another week.
Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir said 25 MPs from the political divide out of 32 in the six counties in the region attended the meeting.
“It was a fruitful discussion. …the government is committed to dealing with the drug menace that has affected hundreds of our youths,” said Nassir.
