The alarming rate of pickpocketing and daylight robbery indeed calls for action. This old phenomenon is even most common in our car parks and markets both in urban Gambia and rural markets, where a number of youngsters loiter around to find work.
But what is really disheartening to note is that they mostly rob people of whatever items they can lay their hands on. And once they succeeded, they spend those ill-gotten items especially cash on either drugs or alcohol.
Parents have a great role in training their children against use of illicit drugs and alcohol. Once under these influences, the victim may act in an insane manner only to regret when his mind is back.
Therefore, youth must realise the dangers of drugs and alcohol. They are not only man’s biggest enemy, but substances that retard any nation’s development especially when it is not controlled. We all have a role to play in national development, but being the most active portion of the population the onus lies in them.
We therefore call on the government to open up more avenues to engage our youth positively. Youth should have at the back of their mind that their role in national development is key.
There is a popular adage that an ‘idle mind is a devil workshop’. So if we allow our youth to sit and loiter in street ghettos, then they will be left with no option, but to engage in activities that would have negative consequences on our overall development.
“Honor to a Spaniard, no matter how
dishonest, is as real a thing as water, wine, or olive oil. There is honor among pickpockets and honor among whores. It is simply that the standards differ.”
Ernest Hemingway