Teens spreading terror in cities shows social decay

- week said views are

divided there on how to deal with gangs of teenagers terrorizing residents of Tanga city, 60 of whom were recently arrested by the police. As it isn’t a daily phenomenon, it is likely to calm down for a while now.

As it was the case at the time that the late President John Magufuli came into office, or by the time he was getting to solve law and order drawbacks and putting the police and local administration on a proper footing, the mobs have not changed. The ruthless ‘swarms’ of youths armed with rudimentary weapons from households are said to have been operating for some months in Tanga. The issue is so far a regional matter, not one attracting policy decisions on what measures need to be taken; it is localised criminality.

The youths have been threatening, attacking and robbing residents of money and belongings such as purses and cell phones. This was usually the sort of crime propagated by motorcycle hiring thugs and they were stopped from entering the city centre in Dar es Salaam in the final year or thereabouts of the fourth phase government. For the regional authorities, it was a relatively minor law enforcement scenario where 60 teenagers aged between nine and 15 were arrested for robbery-related offences.  There were three batches of roughly 20 youths each, one of youngsters who can’t serve jail terms, another already jailed to varios terms and another whose cases are being pursued. Only that the public is hankering for answers.

The public is baffled why teens of that age stock things like machetes, knives, screwdrivers and razors which they use to commit crimes, with some of them figuring out that there are adults involved. Yet this suspicion is hard to built into a case to investigate, for any adult will find it easier to send a son, but how does a father send a son on petty crime? Organised crime knows where to get plenty of money, not send a crowd to rob and then collect the proceeds, while such a crowd is unlikely to have any sense of discipline.

Regional police commander Blasius Chatanda pointed at parenting weaknesses leading to the disturbing situation whereby children who are supposed to be in school or doing homework at home traverse the streets of the city looking for potential victims to attack and rob. He did not appear to have any advice but that if adults don’t play their part in parenting the law will always follow its course. That evidently is true but the sore toe is untreated. It is regional commissioner Adam Malima who has been closer to the point, lately saying that Tanga region cases of drug trafficking and abuse were rising, second only to Dar es Salaam. It means we are back in the days of unchecked social decay and sporadic police operations.

That is a sad situation as boys taking abusive substances start craving for money, and don’t stop at anything. In addition, their sheer size and youthfulness point to lack of organisation but spontaneous action, after whispering to one another.