Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo now says the government will hunt down drug cartels and crush all their establishments across the country.

Omollo singled out the Nairobi-Mombasa highway as a major corridor for traffickers and vowed security agencies will catch up with them.

“We have the challenge of drugs and substance abuse and the main highway here (Nairobi-Mombasa) where a lot of drug trafficking is going on. We have agreed to work closely with all the players so that we completely deal with the issue,” said Omollo.

He was speaking on Friday at Athiriver Primary School in Machakos County after leading a tree planting exercise to mark Chiefs’ Climate Action Day.

The PS noted the Chiefs’ Climate Action Day, slated for every first Friday of each month is part of the greening programme towards the realization of President William Ruto’s directive to plant 15 billion trees by year 2032.

On drugs, PS said: “Those who want to profit from this should look for another business to engage in because people have to make money but in a legitimate manner. It is not acceptable to lose young Kenyans by sitting back and letting free the evil merchants,” he said.

The PS declared that the problem of unemployment cannot be solved by some individuals engaging in criminal activities including drug trafficking and abuse.

Dr Omollo directed officers under his ministry to work closely with education stakeholders to confront the problem of school drop-outs.

“We must find a way of working closely so that we address the challenge of school dropouts. My officers in the national government administration will work very closely to ensure that every child that is supposed to be learning is in school, and they be kept away from all manner of distractions that may prevent them from being in school,” he said.

He urged parents and teachers to also be vigilant and cooperate in order to instill discipline among learners.

He noted that there were numerous risks out there that could prevent learners from achieving their full potential.

The PS revisited the chronic issue of land grabbing mainly affecting Mavoko, Machakos and Matungulu Sub-Counties, warning that the Government will not entertain criminals in the land-grabbing enterprise.

“Some of the major security concerns are issues of land grabbing and squatters for hire. I have held a meeting with the county security committee and agreed that that is a vice we must confront and we must make it clear that we will not entertain people who want to deprive genuine land owners of their parcels of land,” he said.

He went on, “We are giving notice to anyone who is using goons or squatters for hire for invading both private and public land that you must give way for the county to develop without people being deprived of their possession.”

Omollo was flanked by Machakos County Commissioner, Josephine Ouko, County Forest Conservator, Milka Mutua, senior officials from Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s administration led by Agriculture minister, Catherine Mutanu and dozens of local officials from the ministry of education.