Stakeholders call for support of youth to disentangle them from shackles of narcotics use

Nanyuki

Monday July 24, 2023

KNA by Muturi Mwangi

With the worrying trend of drugs and substance abuse among the youth as per the recently released National Survey on the Status of Drugs and Substance use in Kenya, various stakeholders have called for concerted efforts to resolve the challenge.

The five-year survey released by National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) showed high prevalence use of alcohol among the youth in the productive age bracket of 25 to 35 years.

Speaking at Thingithu Secondary school during a mentorship workshop for boy child that brought together about 1,000 boys from various schools across Laikipia county, stakeholders said if the situation is not reversed, the future generation is doomed to fail miserably.

They lamented that majority of young people and especially boys had lost hope in life and they engaged in wayward behaviours including alcohol consumption and hard drugs for lack of support.

Bishop Geoffrey Gichuki, who was the chief guest, said that sensitization about the adverse effects of drugs and alcohol abuse and empowerment of the boy child would salvage the situation.

“Space of male gender in society is declining; they have lost hope and their self-esteem has been shuttered. Therefore, we are destroying future generations if we don’t salvage the situation now,” said Gichuki.

He said young people needed support to shun bad behaviours and be responsible for the prosperity of the country.

“Majority are enslaved in drug abuse and others are not doing well in school. This is dangerous for our country. It’s important that we support them to be responsible and productive men,” urged the bishop.

Nurture Him organisation Director Dr Margaret Kangai said that supporting a boy child would enable him access opportunities to help him live a dignified life.

“We want to see men living dignified lives and our aim is to create a conducive environment for them to access opportunities to enable them have a fulfilled life,” said Dr. Kangai.

She pointed out that drug abuse and poor study skills were some of the problems affecting boys and hence the need for them to organize the forum and train them on how to set achievable goals.

“Boys have raised issues that affect them in their day to day life. The main one is drug and substance abuse. Our mentors have trained them on how to overcome those challenges,” she pointed out.

Nurture Him is a community based organization in Laikipia whose key objective is to bridge the gender gap between boys and girls through empowerment programmes and education. They were the sponsors of the boy child mentorship workshop with other partners.

Laikipia county assistant county commissioner Ms Fridah Kawira said that use of narcotics had led to increase of suicides and domestic violence cases in the society and called for concerted efforts to eradicate the menace.

“We need to bring boys on board since they are the most affected by the issue of narcotics, rehabilitate them so they can engage in economic activities. They should not shy away from reporting instead of committing heinous acts,” said Ms Kawira.

Laikipia county gender coordinator Ms Karen Kiogora said that boys needed to be informed about their rights for them to be responsible and earn respect in the society.

Lamenting over rise in defilement cases in the county, Ms Kiogora advised sexual abuse victims to seek help at Nanyuki police care, a one stop shop that seeks to address Sexual Based Violence in the county.

A group dubbed Beacon Teachers Movement, Nyeri county branch chairman, Gitonga Muriithi told the youth not to feel neglected saying many stakeholders were willing to support youth whenever they needed support.

The theme of the workshop which sought to rekindle the hope of the boy child was “Towards re-engineered boy child.”

Courtesy ; K. N. A