The Mandera women rep, Amina Gedo has decried the high rate school going girls dropping out of school in favour of early marriage in the vast Northeastern region.
The MP who was speaking in Aresa Girls High School in Mandera East sub county on Monday while distributing bursaries to needy students said tender age school going girls were being married by elderly men in the region.
She called on area residents to protect school going girls from being married off at a tender age something she noted was ruining the future of area children and affecting the socio economic development of the whole region.
Ms. Amina asked women in the region to be at the forefront in championing girl child education and deviate from culturally retrogressive practices that impede girl child education.
In a separate function, Ms. Amina cautioned against increasing cases of child trafficking in the region saying tycoons in the region were sexually insulting girls from poor family backgrounds in the name of employing them.
She said the trend must stop as child labour by itself is a crime according to international conventions and the Kenyan constitution.
Several girls from the region have been lured to cheap labour in Eastleigh area in Nairobi with sexual exploitation being on a rising trajectory.
By Dickson Githaiga
