Empower recovering drug addicts - activists tell Coast counties

Kenya Community support centre Joseph Syanda Right flanked by programs officers Kibwana Hassan

BY PETER KOMBE

A section of activists in Mombasa County are calling on Coast counties to develop mechanisms on how to empower reformed drug addicts to avoid them getting back to drug abuse.

According to the activists giving the recovering addicts capital will ensure that they start small scale businesses that will sustain their lives.

Speaking to the Coast newspaper on Tuesday Kenya Community Support Centre programs officer Kibwana Suleiman urged top Coast counties health officials to track drug reformists as they reclaim to becoming useful members of society.

“Coast counties should come out with an alternative way of engaging drug recovery addicts. Yes some of the have reformed and are reforming but is there a better way of empowering these reformers,” Kibwana said

He commended efforts by Coast Counties to build rehabilitation centres to cater for the needs of drug addicts within the counties.

Kibwana lauded efforts by Mombasa county government in ensuring that locals have an access to better health care.

“Mombasa county government has done a good job but there are a few loopholes here and there. We still have inadequate staff in these hospitals,”

The human right defender however took issue with some of the services offered in some of the health facilities within the county.

He urged county executive in charge of health in Mombasa County to conduct frequent visits to all the public facilities to assess the quality of service delivery in the facilities.

An activist who spoke on condition of anonymity says drug menace is still a challenge in Mombasa County.

The concerned Kenyan wants the county government to invest heavily in the construction of more rehabilitation centres and youth friendly facilities.

“Youths are a critical component in this country and for that matter their rights must be safeguarded,” the concerned Kenyan noted.

The Kenyan says youth play a crucial role as far as nation building is concerned urging them to embrace life positively.

In a recent interview with the coast newspaper recently, Reach Out centre trust Taib Abdulrahman decried limited resources to combat drugs menace and appealed to the county to allocate more resources to drug users program.

“We have very little resources to fight drugs menace and this is affecting our efforts to eradicate the menace that is taking toll of our youths,” he said.

Some of the drug rehabilitation centres in Mombasa County include, the Mewa Drug and Treatment Centre, Reach Out Centre Trust, Miritini Rehabilitation Centre.

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