Drugs: Honour We Could Do Without
Nairobi (The Nation, February 24, 2000) - The United Nations' report that singled out
Mombasa as a major drug trafficking point in Africa confirms what we said in our
investigative story on drugs recently.
According to the UN report launched yesterday by the International Narcotics Control
Board, Mombasa is mentioned alongside three other ports on the African shoreline as a
major transit point for illicit drugs.
In our story on Tuesday, we said the 1,000-km Kenyan coastline is a perfect place for a
smuggler.
The coastline is dotted with thousands of small islands, islets and estuaries, is
poorly policed and apart from the occasional Navy frigate on patrol near the Somalia and Tanzania borders, the rest of the shoreline
seems to be a haven for would be smugglers.
The Lamu Archipelago near the Somalia border is
one of the most notorious entry points for drugs entering the country. The drugs, dumped
in the high seas in the thick of the night, are brought on-shore by dhows and later
transported to Mombasa or Nairobi, from where the contraband is transported to the
international market.
The UN states in its report that seizure data indicate that Mombasa, Dar es Salaam in
Tanzania, Maputo in Mozambique and Durban in South Africa are the ports most frequently
used as transit points for drug traffickers.
The drug problem is assuming dimensions which may become difficult to tackle if steps
are not taken right away to stem the tide.
The local drug abuse situation, as has been reported in the media for a long time now,
continues to worsen, as more youths, who form the bulk of the population, take to the
habit of consuming bhang and cocaine.
It is also clear that drugs are becoming a source of income for a growing number of
unscrupulous wheeler-dealers acting in cahoots with corrupt law enforcement officers.
One wonders what happened to the vigorous campaign launched by the government to
prevent the rise of this sort of crime in the country not too long ago.
A fresh, concerted effort by the authorities and the public is required to curb the
menace locally and to reverse the international trend, which is worsening the already
soiled image of the country.