Murkomen calls for reintroduction of NIS in universities to curb drug menace
By Arnold Ngure, February 13, 2025Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has mulled the introduction of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) officers back to universities after a recent report by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Drugs and Alcohol Abuse (NACADA) revealed a worrying prevalence in drug use.
Speaking during the launch of the report on the state of drugs and substance abuse in universities on Thursday, February 13, 2025, Murkomen instructed the inspector general of police Douglas Kanja to consider integrating a multi-agency team within universities to curb the drug problem.
“IG, you need to strengthen all the police stations that are operating near the universities with inter-agency efforts within the police to see how we can integrate these investigations,” Murkomen said.
Intelligence officers back
“In the past, we were told that some of these students are not actually students; they are police officers. Why don’t we go back there IG and make sure that we are having intelligence officers working within the universities and with students to get proper intelligence and interventions in dealing with drugs and substance abuse in these universities.”
Murkomen equally put on notice career students who he said could be behind the selling of drugs and substances to students while pretending to be actively pursuing their courses.
“We know students who have been in the university forever. At the University of Nairobi, they have been the previously notorious students who never finish school, are very rich yet they are doing no business, extremely influential and ae in the student leadership,” Murkomen noted.
“We must be able to investigate why a student is not leaving school, pretending to finish one course and move to another or delay studies. We must take measures to deal with such students because of the business they are doing around.”
Damning report
The NACADA Status of Drugs and Substance Use Among University Students in Kenya report revealed that nearly half of all university students have used a drug or a substance in their lifetime.
Equally, the report disclosed that of the more than 15,000 respondents questioned, at least 1 in every five students has used khat in either form during their lifetime.
The report indicated that friends were the number one source of drugs and substances among university students, followed by canteens and bars in close proximity of the institutions.
Fellow students were also mentioned as sources of the drugs among websites selling drugs and alcohol, canteens within the university, support staff and teaching staff.