• Aisha said parents and local leaders should do their part to ensure children are brought up with good morals and family values.
• Hussein faulted the Mombasa county assembly for the way it has handled the drugs menace in the county.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
The government should work harder to eradicate the drug and substance abuse menace, Mombasa Woman Representative Asha Hussein has said.
Hussein said parents and local leaders should also do their part to ensure children are brought up with morals and family values.
“We want the government to ensure these traffickers and peddlers are arrested and prosecuted,” Hussein said.
A survey by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse released last Wednesday indicated that children as young as four years old are hooked to drugs.
The report noted that tobacco, prescription drugs, bhang and alcohol are the most abused drugs among pupils in primary school.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i said alcohol and drug abuse was an impediment to the security and health of Kenyans.
He called on schools to develop and implement drugs and substance abuse prevention policies.
He also tasked the education ministry, Nacada and other agencies to set up functional guidance and counselling departments with well-trained teachers.
But Hussein and nominated MCA Milka Areba said this will not work if parents do not take responsibility for their children.
Hussein faulted the Mombasa County Assembly for the way it has handled the drugs menace in the county.
Nominated MCA Fatma Kushe has been in the forefront fighting against muguka and miraa in the county.
She tabled a motion in the assembly seeking to abolish the sale and chewing of the herbs. But Hussein said more has to be done.
“What the county government, including Mama Milka and her colleagues, did is to remove muguka from Tononoka to Kongowea market, which is not the solution,” the woman rep said.
The drugs disaster is our collective responsibility as parents, government and leaders, she said.
Areba said women today are overwhelmed by responsibilities at home so much so that they have abdicated their roles in bringing up children.
“Apart from ignorance, there is much that makes women today get so busy but still miss out on opportunities,” she said.
For instance, she noted, most women still do not understand much about the National Government Affirmative Action Fund.
“We need to do a lot of civic education on this,” Areba said.
She said leaders at the grassroots, including MCAs should take the lead in educating women at the grassroots on how to make proposals so they can benefit from the funds.
“That is why we should all work towards ensuring we have good leaders at the helm,” she said.
(Edited by O. Owino)