By James Gitau

Kenya seems to be under the siege of criminals. Reports of innocent citizens and suspected criminals being gunned down are pouring in from all parts of the country. Watching the news has become a traumatic experience.

It is easy for our emotions to be whipped up and our hearts hardened against those who carry out heinous crimes. Indeed, we can cheer happily when another gangster is felled by police bullets, or lynched by angry citizens. We are satisfied when we read that two young men charged with robbery are on their way to the gallows.

Last week, I shared my thoughts on quick fix methods that deal with the symptoms, but not the source of the challenge. In my view, this approach has not, and will not, reduce the rate of crime.

This method is similar to how most conventional doctors deal with a cancer — they cut off the cancerous part of the body. The disease fights back and returns even more aggressively.

Understand the cause

Our country seems to have a cancer known as crime, and we need the wisdom of a great doctor who tries to understand the disease in order to give the patient a long-term solution.

We have been told, many times, that the cause of criminal activity is unemployment. While unemployment can lead to desperation and may contribute to one being drawn to criminal behaviour, my view is that we need to dig deeper.  There are many unemployed young men and women in the world who are not criminals.

I believe the main reasons for criminal behaviour include these:

1. Inadequate parenting

Delinquent behaviour begins when the child is young and is usually a result of poor parenting. We need to ask ourselves whether we have the passion, wisdom, energy and skills to raise our children in an upright manner, given all the other things we have to pay attention to.

What can we do as a country to support parents, more so single parents, to bring up their children in the best manner? Though the church has made great efforts to support families, they seem to be insufficient.

Can we have counselling and mentorship resources in every village/ estate, especially for broken families? In the past, extended families would offer this form of support. This is no longer the case, as our new motto seems to be ‘Every man for himself and God for us all’.

2. Weak societal value system

Our value system continues to be eroded and we seem to glorify those who acquire wealth in a dubious manner. A few years ago, I was amazed to watch young school children seeking autographs from the prime suspect in the Goldenberg scandal during the enquiry.

Though we have national values in our new Constitution, they are rarely mentioned, and few people know of them.

3. Ineffective correctional system

 A few years ago, I asked one of the most decorated senior correctional officers in Kenya how many of her ‘customers’ were repeat offenders, and she said between 60 and 70 per cent. We, therefore, need to ask ourselves: Is there another way of ensuring those jailed leave prisons better people, and not hardened criminals?

A success story

As I mentioned last week, early this month, my wife and I had lunch at a first class restaurant in San Francisco, which is part of the Delancey Street Foundation run by ex-convicts, hard-core substance abusers, and other people considered beyond help.

The foundation is considered the USA’s leading residential self-help organisation for substance abusers, ex-convicts, the homeless and others who have hit rock bottom. The average resident has been a hard-core drug addict for 16 years, abused alcohol and multiple drugs, dropped out of school in the 7th Grade and been institutionalised several times. Many have been gang members; most have been trapped in poverty for several generations. Despite this, Delancey has 12 different ventures earning millions of dollars every year.

The story and the principles of Mimi Silbert, who started the foundation, have been of great interest to me for years as a way of empowering people who are at their lowest point, and turning them into useful members of the community, thus, creating a safer society.

I am of the opinion that we can create a safer country without littering it with dead bodies.