Kenya has right to secure borders against traffickers

It is hard enough to keep track of legal aliens within the borders of the Republic without worrying about the thousands willing to ferret themselves under the rug, whether intending to melt into the general population or in transit to third countries.

And as the President recently told the London international conference on Somalia in London, the number of refugees is taking a heavy toll on the resources meant for tax-paying Kenyans. They are also known to destroy the habitat in northern Kenya around the refugee camps of Dadaab and Ife.

Some have criminally altered the demographics of the country by illegally acquiring citizenship documents, thereby perpetuating corrupt practices. And top on the list of negatives are the aliens harbouring a negative agenda fuelled by misplaced nationalistic aspirations and religious fervor and smuggle in weapons for accomplishment of jihadist persuasions.

Such are the Al Shabaab militia that have taken the country through a drawn-out propaganda war and a costly military incursion that has had long-term financial implications on the Exchequer.

Attendant crime

In light of the foregoing, concerns of the provincial administration in Loitokitok District are valid about the increased human and drug trafficking along the Kenya-Tanzania border. The movement of contraband, uninspected and uncustomed goods denies Kenya and Tanzania legitimate monies to the national kitty. The sheer volumes of marijuana being ferried across this border area is worrying.

Worse still is that these drugs are finding their way to gullible youths who are supposed to form the backbone of this country’s development. Going northward is also the cost of policing the border and fighting attendant crime fomented by drug peddling gangs. There is also the cost of treatment and rehabilitation of such youths once addiction sets in.

Granted Kenya is signatory to various international conventions to aid transiting populations fleeing torture, civil war, famine and other forms of exploitation, it is still within her sovereign sights to police her borders and stop unauthorised and criminal movement of humans and goods.

Kenya refuses to bear the permanent label as the transit hub of choice for all manner of vice.