KENYA-NARCOTICS: Drug Barons Target the Youth

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, May 27 1996 (IPS) - When, in 1994, she enrolled her only son, George, in one of Kenya’s best and most expensive schools, Catherine Ichoya was convinced she was buying him a ticket to a bright future.

“We wanted him to get the best education,” recalls Ichoya, who had just returned from Harvard University in the United States, where she earned a master’s degree in economics and management.

Ichoya had no idea that many of the wealthy students attending schools such as the one she sent George to are drug addicts and she only realised her son was a user when he fell ill. Admitted to hospital in May 1995, George died three weeks later. He was just 16.

“Since then, my husband and I have decided to devote our lives to campaigning against the danger of drugs. Our objective is to talk directly to the children,” Ichoya, a top official at the National Bank of Kenya, said Sunday as she urged some 500 young people to shun drugs.

Her address in a Nairobi church where a rehabilitation centre has been set up for drug abusers was part of a series of activities planned this year to help stamp out drug abuse here.

“Our son told us a lot about drug abuse in school when he was admitted to hospital,” said Ichoya, who encouraged parents to discuss the dangers of drugs with their children before it was too late.

“I’ve received many letters from children in Kenya who wrote to me about their drug problems,” she said. “Most of them, too scared, say they can’t discuss their drugs problems with their parents.”

No one has any idea how many children are hooked on narcotics in this East African state. But the abuse of drugs — not only the socially accepted ones such as alcohol and tobacco, but also hard drugs like mandrax and cocaine — is on the upswing, IPS learned from psychiatrist Dr. Caleb Otieno.

“When children affected by drugs are brought to us, we try to wean them off the habit. Once their behaviour becomes normal, we return them to school,” he told IPS.

An official at the Ministry of Education, Simon Lesirma, urged teachers to be vigilant and protect the youth from drug peddlers, who see them as easy targets.

Similarly, Vice-president George Saitoti warned recently that “drugs are having devastating effects on our populace, especially the youth who are the future leaders of our countries.” He made the remark a few days after police confiscated 20 tonnes of hashish, the largest haul in Kenya’s history.

For a long time, Kenya’s Indian Ocean port of Mombasa has been an international gateway for narcotics traffickers. Last year, 12 tonnes of hashish worth 18 million dollars passed through the port. Half of it was seized in Europe and the United States.

In the same year, about 30 kg of heroine and more than 500,000 mandrax tablets — believed to have been shipped in through Mombasa — were seized in Kenya, reveals the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

In March, CID boss Noah arap Too called for improved security at Mombasa port to combat the rise of narcotics smuggling to Europe and the United States: “Drug trafficking through the sea … is on the rise and there is need for more advanced methods of surveillance …,” he said.

Addressing business leaders from 20 countries in East and Southern Africa at a recent meeting here, Saitoti vowed that the drug trade would not be allowed to take root in the region.

“The drugs problem, although rather new to the continent, is one of the evils that we have to join hands, both in the public and private sectors, to completely eradicate,” he said. “The Kenya government will work tirelessly, in close collaboration with other similarly concerned governments to completely eradicate trafficking of drugs from our region.”

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said in March in Mombasa that: “Kenya is a signatory to all international conventions banning drug trafficking and will not allow her ports to be used for illicit drug trafficking’.

His remark followed a report by the U.S. State Department that East Africa was increasingly becoming a conduit for heroin, hashish and mandrax.

The report pointed out that the increased volume of sea trade expected from the planned designation of Mombasa as a free-port was likely to “complicate efforts by Kenya drug enforcement agencies to stem narcotics trafficking along the coast.”

“The principal obstacle to effective law enforcement is neither corruption nor lack of political will,” the state department noted, “but rather, insufficient finance and equipment.”

In 1995, the United States contributed 45,000 U.S. dollars to Kenya’s anti-narcotics effort. This year, Police Commissioner Shadrach Kiruki and U.S. Ambassador Aurelia Brazeal singed a 51,000-dollar agreement for the supply of videos, still cameras, tape recorders, computers and motor-cycles for Kenya’s drug enforcers. The equipment is due to arrive here in September.

Previously, vehicles, computers, fire-proof cabinets, fax and photocopy machines and field-test kits for drugs have been donated by the U.S. government.

“The U.S. has made efforts to stem the use of and trafficking in illegal narcotics. The U.S. government wishes to support the continued efforts of the Kenyan government in the efforts to combat drug trafficking,” said Brazeal.