Young people who have completed their studies but not yet employed should use their education to start own projects than resorting to drug abuse or engage in criminal offences.

This plea was made by the Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Lesao Lehohla at a public gathering aimed at addressing crime at Lithoteng in Maseru on Wednesday.

Mr. Lehohla who is also the Minister of Home Affairs and Public Safety urged youth to unite and seek advice from the Ministries of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation and of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing on how to start small business enterprises.

'Resorting to criminal offences is not a solution while starting own businesses will create more job opportunities'.

He also called on people who have rented out their houses in the area to ensure that they know people who stay with them and where they are working to avoid keeping criminals within their premises.

Mr. Lehohla said nowadays there are many foreigners who are staying in the country without proper documents and are drug dealers.

He said such drug dealers do a lot of damage to the youth as they sell drugs to them, calling to owners of rented houses not to be content with receiving money from people who do not work.

With regard to improvement within the police services, he said the government has purchase vehicles and other equipment for the police to carryout their service smoothly.

He also pledged to improve the Lithoteng police station when funds are available.

Speaking on behalf of the Principal Chief of Thaba-Bosiu, Chief Jimisi Theko called on parents to take full responsibility in the upbringing of their children.

He expressed concern over stock theft, referring to it as a national disaster and appealing to the government to speed up the micro chipping in which animals are marked so that they could be dragged easily when stolen.

Furthermore, Chief Theko was concerned about the justice system which he said is still slow, saying even small cases drag for a long time in courts of law before they could be decided upon.

He commented that as chiefs they could address minor cases in which perpetrators could be sentenced to do community service rather than going to jail.

The Commissioner of police Mrs. 'Malejaka Letooane said the government has purchased 54 new vehicles for the police to carryout their task easily while they are expecting 58 more.

“The police vision is that by 2016, crime ought to have been reduced drastically and people living in harmony and peace,” she said.

The Commissioner believed that as police they cannot achieve that without community cooperation as they need each other.

Lithoteng Constituency is divided into five Area chiefs of Qoaling, Besele, Abia, Lithabaneng and Matala and is situated in the outskirts of Maseru.

The Ministry is currently holding a series of public gathering throughout the country with a similar purpose of seeking public opinion on how crime could be addressed.

Source: LENA 20/08/2008