The church has been challenged to take a front seat in championing for the rights and wellbeing of the boy child.
Speaking in Trans Nzoia on Wednesday during a clergy prayer meeting where she outlined her four pillar transformation agenda, Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi said that it’s time the church took a bold step to campaign for the course of the boy child, as she called for an all-inclusive approach.
“We cannot continue burying our heads in the sand as our boys get lost in drug and substance abuse. Time has come for the church and all stakeholders to join me and like-minded parties in the chorus to save our boys and our society at large,” she said.
Detailing how the monster of drug and substance abuse has killed the moral fabric of the society, the Second Lady bemoaned the vice has resulted to many deaths which could have been avoided.
“Many young men have died because of drug and substance abuse. Most of the accidents being reported in the country involve our young boys and men and are as a result of this monster, the increasing number of widows and orphans in the country are as a result of this monster.
If you go to our prisons many of those serving sentences are our young men who are there for mistakes they committed while under the influence of drugs. All these could have been avoided and it is for this reason I beseech you to join me in this bandwagon of liberating the boy child,” she challenged adding that the vice has denied the country a workforce to fuel the development agenda.
Besides the liberation of the boy child from drug and substance abuse, the Second Lady outlined that the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President (OSDP) is also working on empowerment of orphans and widows, empowerment of People Living with Disabilities and Chaplaincy Outreach as the other three pillars in the strive to change fortunes in the society.
Dorcas said Chaplaincy Outreach and Family Values Programme focuses on preventive measures where school going boys who are not yet into substance and drug abuse are trained and mentored.
Explaining if focus on the liberation of the boy child will shift off focus on the efforts geared towards liberation of the girl child, the Second Lady said that by putting emphasis on the boy child, liberation of the girl child will come automatically as she alluded to the story of using one stone to kill two birds.
Accompanying the Second Lady were Trans Nzoia Senator Allan Chesang, Trans Nzoia Woman Representative Lilian Siyoi, the County Commissioner Gideon Oyagi, among others.
By Isaiah Nayika and Elvis Nalua
