For many years, Kisauni has always been known as a crime zone and a home for juvenile gangs who terrorise residents.
On Friday, Sisters for Justice together with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution opened Kisauni Social Justice Centre, which is expected to help curb crime in the region.
This will be among the 13 justice centres found in the coastal region.
Sister for Justice executive director Naila Mohammed said the area could have been a developed place, were it not for violence and crime.
“This centre started three years ago, but we could not open it due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been of help to the community because we have seen the crime cases reports going down drastically,” she said.
Mohammed said the centre will also have a digital platform where the community will not have to visit the office physically but instead communicate by sending a message or email.
Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid said there have been rising cases of crime and issues of extremism and radicalisation of young people in the region.
“The majority of these youths are good boys who have talents, but they lack guidance and the opportunities to develop their skills,” he said.
He also said there are a number of cases of youths who transformed through the interventions of justice actors working with the community organisations.
“That is the impact we are having within this community. We know that when people sit together there is nothing they cannot deal with and that is the importance of an office such as this one,” Khalid said.
He said having a website at the centre will extremely be helpful to the community whenever they want to report issues related to insecurity.
The issue of youths engaging in criminal cases is not only a challenge being faced in Kenya, but across Africa.
Zanzibar DPP Salma Hassan said they also have similar cases being reported in their country.
Hassan said if the law works well, the community will live in unity hence the need to work together.
“In Zanzibar, we have a similar place like Kisauni called Boriborini where we have youth who attack people. We need to work in unity and start with our communities before going international,” she said.
Nigeria DPP Malami Abubakar said criminal cases are borderless because criminals have access to borders, and they can get in and out of any country.
“We need to come up with a more proactive approach and lay it on the grassroots,” he said.
The two visited to learn how Kenya is working towards dealing with human rights issues.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
