A non-governmental organisation, Compassion International Kenya (CIK) in partnership with the Department of Children Services in Homa Bay County have embarked on a program aimed at fighting child neglect.
The objective is to create awareness and trigger sustainable action from the government and other stakeholders to address the causes of child neglect in the county.
Speaking to the press, Rev Richard Sijenyi from CIK said that they were involved in programmes geared towards poverty reduction at the family level in order to ensure children were provided with basic necessities.
“As CIK, our main responsibility is to safeguard children from the effects of extreme poverty. Homa Bay County is mostly affected by child neglect cases due to high poverty levels,” Sijenyi said.
He added that they were working towards providing sustainable solutions to address the rampant child neglect cases in the county.
Homa-Bay County Director of Children Services Peter Kutere said child neglect, defilement cases and child labour must be tackled to ensure the rights of the children were safeguarded.
He said data from the Children Protection Information Management and the United Nations Children’s Fund shows that, child neglect is the most rampant form of child abuse across the county.
“According to our data, child neglect is the main problem in Homa Bay and therefore, we are calling upon families to remain vigilant and take wholly their responsibility of caring for their children,” Kutere said.
Homa Bay Deputy County Commissioner Jude Wasonga applauded the press in the county for playing a major role in the fight against child violence by always publishing stories on the same.
He said that the county security personnel were vigilant to ensure those who violates children’s right were brought to book.
“I appreciate the media for playing a major role by publishing stories on child abuse. It has been helping us in bringing the perpetrators to book,” Wasonga said.
By Brian Odhiambo
