• The Kazi Mtaani programme has employed 4,060 youth in Athi River subcounty
• It has also helped support families where bills were leading to fights and separation
Image: GEORGE OWITI
The Kazi Mtaani programme has reduced crime and domestic violence in Athi River and its environs, an administrator has said.
It has kept some 4,046 youth busy and helped families afford basics such as food and rent, Athi River deputy county commissioner David Juma said.
“Crime has gone down since most youth who were loitering around have been employed. The Kazi Mtaani initiative has significantly reduced the unemployment rate,” he told the Star on the phone on Sunday.
The daily rates are Sh455 for a worker and Sh505 for a supervisor for up to 11 days a month.
Duties include ‘street’ cleaning, fumigation and disinfection, garbage collection, bush clearance and drainage unclogging.
Juma said many couples had previously separated after their partners lost jobs and could not fend for their families. Some of them were couples who worked in private schools as teachers.
“We have noted improvement among families as far as domestic violence is concerned as opposed to earlier months, when Covid-19 struck,” he said.
The government is imparting life skills to young people through the programme to assist them in their lives, the official said.
He advised the youth to save their earnings from the initiative so they can invest once the situation normalises.
Juma decried high cases of defilement in Athi River and other parts of Machakos county.
He warned sex pests against preying on schoolgirls, saying their days are numbered.
“We will not entertain sex pests in our society. Let those who defile children be warned,” Juma said.
The administrator said police are in pursuit of Wycliffe Mayieka after Mavoko Court issued a warrant of arrest against him.
Mayieka, 30, is suspected of defiling and impregnating a 16-year-old girl in Katani, Machakos county.
He fled after his elder brother Bogongo, 52, was arrested and arraigned for allegedly defiling the minor’s twin sister, his tenants’ children.
“We are appealing for members of the public to volunteer information that could lead to the suspect’s arrest,” Juma said.
Bogongo was released on Sh500,000 bond or Sh300,000 bail. Hearing is slated for October 1.
Machakos had reported over 4,000 cases of teenage girls’ pregnancies since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March.