The government has directed that all public beaches will be closed at 6pm, throughout the Easter holiday as part of efforts to tame gang problem in the coastal region.
Speaking in Mombasa while accompanied by senior officials from multiple security agencies, Coast Regional Police Commander Ali Nuno announced the directive, stressing the importance of increased vigilance and proactive planning as thousands of travellers are expected in the region for Easter celebrations.
According to the police boss, security and intelligence officers will be strategically placed across the region to help address challenges that might occur during the holidays.
''These are part of the strategies to ensure that there is seamless movement of travellers and visitors along the Kenyan coast. This is a tourist destination centre, and I therefore want to assure our people and the international community that the coastal region is safe and secure," Nuno stressed.
''We have an operational order in place, and we will be having teams which will be moving around. They will be strategically placed for enforcement."
Further, Nuno insisted that long-distance transport companies will be required to assign two drivers per vehicle to help address fatigue-related issues and reduce road carnage.
Additionally, as part of the directives, intoxicated drivers will be apprehended and charged with various traffic offences.
''We will not allow road carnages to be a nuisance during the period, and we will take intoxicated drivers head on,'' he added.
Meanwhile, Nuno reiterated his earlier directives on apprehending parents whose children will be found committing various felonies in the region.
On March 25, Nuno directed chiefs and sub-chiefs in Diani to submit the names of the teenagers engaging with the gangs, along with their parents, so that police could apprehend them.
"The chiefs and the assistant chiefs should make sure that as they submit the names of children involving themselves with the gangs in your sublocations, they also submit the names of their parents so that they may be apprehended together," he ordered.
The Panga Boys gang has long been a thorn in the flesh of Kwale County residents. On Saturday, March 25, the gang conducted violent attacks in Diani, leaving several people injured.
In a video that circulated on social media, the gang, posing as protestors, was seen storming into residential buildings with machetes, chasing and robbing residents.
