A section of leaders drawn from Nakuru County, among them clerics and government officials have condemned increasing crimes in the low-income settlements around the town.
Speeches of crime and the need to stop the recruitment of the youth to the gang groups were issued across most of the churches during the new-year sermons.
Bishop Geoffrey Buliba of Christian Brotherhood Church asked police to intensify the crackdown on organised crime in the town and its surrounding estates.
He observed that the gangs have been involved in murders, inter-estate fights, drug peddling, and armed robberies which have greatly affected the security status of the town.
Buliba said the mushrooming gangs in Kivumbini, London, Kaptembwa, Bondeni, Kaloleni, Flamingo, and Kwa Rhonda estates were forcefully recruiting minors as young as 12 years of age.
“The security agencies in Nakuru should intensify crackdowns to protect minors in the affected estates because they have become easy recruits,” said during a general assembly at the Upendo Christian Brotherhood Church in Manyani.
Buliba reiterated the need for parents and the community to give proper guidance to the youth and cooperate with the police to end organised crime.
“It is unfortunate that some parents feel is okay that their children are using technology to steal money from people, what they thought was a smart crime that did not cause physical harm on the victims has now transmuted into a robbery with violence,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Anglican Church of Kenya, Nakuru Diocese Bishop, Joseph Muchai who said that the long holiday due to Covid-19 had exposed children to crime.
The gangs which were involved in mobile money theft started in early 2000 and have been silently going on with the blessings of parents and the neighbourhood until recently when the youths started killing each other in gang-rivalry fights.
The gangs have been clashing and killing each other in the past two years with the latest being last week in Kivumbini.
With the mobile money service providers sealing the gaps that they were exploiting to steal money from members of the public, the gangs dabbed Confirm, Wazito Wa Tizedi and Gaza transitioned into armed robberies and phone-snatching.
Muchai urged the Directorate of criminal investigation and the community through Nyumba Kumi to work closely in flushing out the criminal gangs.
He feared that the groups which have splinter groups in almost every estate might engage in bloody conflicts over territories.
Nakuru West Deputy County Commissioner Michael Lesimamsaid eradication of criminal gangs in Nakuru will succeed if the community and neighbors agree to work closely with the security agents.
He added that the war on criminal groupings cannot be left to the security agents alone but is a collective responsibility.