The streets of Nairobi are back to their typical appearance following the spectacle that the country’s government had tried so hard to maintain ahead of president Obama’s visit last weekend.

Even though the famous Kidero grass has started sprouting in some of the areas where they had been planted, street families who are not only an eyesore but also a major security threat in the city are back on the lanes after being allowed to leave the confines of the rehabilitation centers where they were been holed up ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

The National Youth Service (NYS) rounded up the street families a week ago and took them to the Joseph Kang’ethe community center in Woodley estate.

The street families whose number seem to be increasing by day have been a major security threat in the country with majority of young men being involved in muggings while the women take up the easy way of using their children to beg for money and food from passerby’s.

REHABILITATION CENTRE FOR CHILDREN

The county government announced plans to get rid of the street families in 2013 in effort to curb crime in the city. Deputy governor Jonathan Mueke had then announced that plans were underway to put up a rehabilitation center for street children, which would be located in Ruai by January 2014 at a cost of Sh200 million.

“Insecurity is a big concern in Nairobi with the street children posing a great danger in crime management. These families are sometimes used by gangs to plan and execute offences,’’ said Mueke, who had hosted a roundtable meeting with business leaders at Safari park hotel.

However it’s now over a year down the line and the center is still not up but the county maintains that it’s still work in progress.

As a joke that has been trending online since Obama flew out of the country on Sunday; “Nairobians be more vigilant as from Monday, remember pickpockets slept hungry since Friday”.