Migori County Commissioner Mr. Meru Mwangi has said that unemployment is one of the key factors that drive youths to violence and extremism.
Mwangi who chaired a forum on Countering Violence Extremists (CVT) in Migori said that the youth were the targeted group for acts of violence and extremism.
The administrator noted that it was important to bring everybody on board to help address the matters concerning youths. Mwangi said that it was important to talk to youths and equip them with knowledge and skills on how to identify perpetrators of violence and extremist behavior.
He said that the few who have been converted can be taught and trained to remove them from that extremist groups.
Mwangi emphasized that political, education and psycho-social pillars were some of the aspects that can help curb violence and extremism among the youths. He said that these pillars will help to train and nurture youths to make decisions based on informed choices.
Mwangi added that psycho social pillars will help radicalize, economically empower and capacity-build youths to be better citizens.
He called upon the media to help to disseminate positive messages and enlighten youths on extremist groups.
Mwangi also said that the community can help identify extremists and people with questionable characters. He noted that community-based organizations and NGOs can partner with the county and national governments to come up with Private-Public partnerships to help build security aspects.
The Commissioner said that through this partnership, a multi-agency strategy can be formed in order to realize a homegrown solution to problems facing our youths and community.
He noted that homegrown solutions can be used to address conflict resolution and peace among the communities. He highlighted that so far the county has not experienced any form of extremism but said that that does not mean it does not exist.