Varsity students in Mombasa decry insecurity

Student leaders at the Technical University of Mombasa have raised concern over insecurity at their residences.

They said unknown criminals are targeting students in Kisauni, Likoni, Mvita and Nyali subcounties.

Daniel Musyoki alias Tembo said many students are forced to seek cheap rentals outside the school due lack of enough accommodation.

“The attacks on the students happen every week. Many are also in hospitals,” he said.

Musyoki spoke on Saturday in a forum convened by Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir at the university.

The attacks and theft have made some university services inaccessible to the students.

“These thugs are not only attacking and injuring our students, they are also stealing from them. How do you expect a student to replace a Sh32,000 laptop or a phone worth around Sh15,000?” he asked.

“A program cannot stop because a student has lost a laptop. It will continue and the one who lost their phone or laptop lags behind and loses out,” Musyoki said.

“Just the other day, a student was stabbed at around 6pm while he was going to KC (Kaa Chonjo) in Mvita subcounty.”

In 2021, Tum students demonstrated against insecurity in Kisauni.

Musyoki accused the police of not doing enough to address insecurity.

He said police intensify patrols for about a week after an incident happens then slows down.

“We want the police to conduct the patrols everyday, not only after an incident has occurred,” Musyoki said.

Nassir, who sits in the county security committee, said the county will install smart CCTV cameras across the county.

The cameras have facial recognition features and number plate recognition systems.

“When you rob people, cameras will pick up your face and we will be able to identify you. Unless you decide to hide forever," he said.

“But the day you pop up and the camera picks you up again, it will send an alarm and will go backwards and show your pattern of movement,” Nassir said.

He said the cameras will also be used to identify traffic offenders.

“We want to convert Mombasa into a smart city. We have already awarded the contract for the project. In the next 45 days, the cameras will be installed,” Nassir said.

He said the first payment of the contract, which is worth about Sh94 million, has already been made.

“They have imported the equipment and done the survey. In the next 45 days or so, we will be doing the ground breaking,” Nassir said.

He said the project could be expanded depending on the impact.

The most crime-prone areas will have more cameras.

Mombasa county has a Sh93 million budget for street lights for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Nassir said the county advertised for smart street lighting solutions but the numbers quoted were astronomical.

This forced the county to rethink and make a decision to do the project in piecemeals.

Hillary Onyango, a student and player of the schools football team, TUM Dynamos, asked the county to come up with more programmes to keep the youth busy.

He said this will keep them from criminal activities.

“I have interacted with many young people and realised that they do not engage in crime and substance abuse because they want to but because they want to get high,” he said.

And to get money to buy drugs, they have to engage in crime, Onyango said.

Mombasa county has a programme that gives school-going youth motivational talks during holidays.

The youth are paid Sh250 to attend the programs daily.

She100 is given as fare while Sh150 goes to a kitty that helps pay fees for them.

Nassir said most crime in Mombasa is done my juveniles and that is why crime spikes during school holidays.