Djibouti News Gazette

Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera and the Deputy County Commissioner Moses Gicharu have declared illicit liquor and substance abuse as a threat to the sub county’s future.

The duo made the assertion Thursday during Madaraka day celebrations at Archbishop Njenga Girls High School grounds in Chekalini location.

Gicharu said the fight against illicit brews and other hard drugs needs concerted of security agencies, administrators, elected leaders and the community if it is to be won.

He lauded Nabwera and Chekalini Ward Representative Titus Kwoma for coming out aggressively to fight illicit liquor that is endangering the Lugari community’s future.

‘The two leaders have exceptionally done well. They have come out and joined us in the fight without the fear of losing votes. As elected leaders just like us the administrators they have realized that if nothing is done Lugari will be no more in the next few years,’ Gicharu said.

‘Let us work together to eliminate these brews and other drugs so that we can realize the community’s development agenda,’ said Gicharu and warned bar owners of dire consequences if they continue breaching the operating time stipulated in their licenses.

‘We cannot have a community that drinks from morning to evening without working. We have a number of licensed bar owners within Lugari who are operating outside the required time. Here in Lugari there is no single bar that qualifies to operate for 24 hours,’ he said.

Nabwera who is a first-time lawmaker said there is no way the constituency can be at peace when its residents’ security is not guaranteed.

He said: ‘Our DCC we have a big challenge in our hands. The biggest issues affecting Lugari’s security negatively are aimless consumption of illicit brews and smoking of bhang and other hard drugs.’

‘We cannot have a constituency where we drink for 24 hours. We are not preventing anyone from taking alcohol but what we are saying is that let us do it at the right time,’ he added.

Nabwera urged illicit brew makers to venture into alternative business activities that will not destroy the community in the long run. ‘Today I want to announce here that we are kick-starting here in Chekalini ward the ‘rehabilitation’ program we recently launched in

Mautuma ward,’ he noted.

‘If you are an illicit brew maker and you want to shift to a different business just register with the chief and we shall take you for training put you into groups of 20 people and give your business capital. I have grown up in Lugari and I never witnessed our parents take alcohol in the morning as it is happening now,’ he said.

Nabwera appealed to members of the public to cooperate with administrators, security agencies and other government officers to transform the constituency by eliminating illicit liquor and drugs as nobody will come from outside to do that for them.

‘We must agree. If we want our children to go to school, study and excel we cannot afford to sell bhang and alcohol next to their schools,’ he stated.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has partnered with the Kisii County Government and other environmental organisations to clean up River Nyakomisaro in Kisii town as a build-up activity towards the commemoration of the World Environmental Day slated for June 5.

Speaking to KNA during the activity, NEMA Board Member Mr. Amos Andama said the clean-up of the river is meant to set an example to the community members so that they can take up the cleaning of all rivers within the county.

Andama noted the solid wastes and sewage that are directed towards the river have greatly contributed to the contamination of the water leading to the contracting of diseases by humans.

The Director challenged the community members to take part in the conservation of the environment adding that no one will do it for them.

Kitutu Central Deputy County Commissioner, Elizabeth Atemi said they had agreed as a community to focus on cleaning the river because access to clean water ensures that the community members are healthy.

Atemi urged the residents to continue embracing waste segregation by separating biodegradable waste from other solid waste like plastics that highly contribute to the pollution of the environment.

In line with this year’s World Environmental Day 2023 theme of beating plastic pollution, the DCC pointed out that they will mount an operation in the county to impound all the plastic bags that have been sneaked into business premises so that they can end the menace of plastic bags.

She encouraged the residents of Kisii County to be at the forefront in undertaking various environmental activities including the planting of indigenous tree seedlings as part of the efforts towards achieving 30 percent tree cover and 15 billion trees across the country by 2030.

A spot check by KNA revealed that some sections of River Nyakomisaro have been heavily polluted by plastics and direct disposal of raw sewage.

The World Environmental Day 2023 celebrations in Kisii are set to be marked at Gusii stadium on Monday where discussions around the protection of the environment will be held.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions and the fight against Boko Haram insurgencies in the Far Noth region were ranked in the 8th position amongst the most neglected displacement crises in the world in 2022.

This is contained in a report published by the Norwegian Refugee Council on June 1, 2023.

According to the report, three criteria were taken into consideration to measure the level of neglect. First was the lack of international political will characterized by the number of UN resolutions, peacekeeping missions, diplomatic will, or international discussions on these crises.

For this aspect, the NRC notes that “the political will of the international community to contribute to political solutions remained weak” and concluded that in the absence of an international initiative to find political solutions to the crisis the level of needs cannot show signs of improvement.

The second is the lack of media attention. The NRC notes that the level of media attention was about 0.5% in 2021, and remained very low in 2022.

The percentage was calculated by the number of media coverage against the number of people displaced by each crisis, using the latest figures from UNHCR and the NRC’s IDMC (Internal Travel Monitoring Centre)

The last is the lack of humanitarian funding. It highlighted that for the 2022 financial year, funding for the crisis remained limited, with international donors covering only 55% of the humanitarian response.

This was in a context where at the beginning of 2022, “3.9 million people in Cameroon needed help, a figure that rose to 4.7 million at the end of the year “the report revealed.

According to Human Rights Watch, as of August 2022, the 6 years conflict has recorded 598,000 displaced persons and at least 2 million people need humanitarian aid in these regions.

The UN estimates that Cameroon needs about 244 billion FCFA this year to help persons in all humanitarian crises including the Boko Haram insurgencies in the Far North, the influx of Central African refugees in the East, and the Anglophone conflict.

Source: Cameroon News Agency