The prosecution department in Narok County has called for consolidated efforts in curbing the rising tread of teenage pregnancy in the area.
The Narok Senior Counsel, Zachary Omwega said the cases could be reduced if the society was involved in protecting the girl child and educating them on the dangers of engaging in pre-marital sex.
“Most of the young girls could not be aware of the dangers of having boyfriends. They think it is something fashionable and want to discover more only to find themselves pregnant,” said Omwega.
Omwega who spoke in his office Monday asked the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work at the grassroots to be in the front line of conducting sex education to the girls as many parents shy away from discussing sex matters with their young girls.
“What is lacking in our society is awareness. When we interrogate most affected children, we find that they were not aware of the consequences of their acts. I advise the stakeholders to do a lot of sensitization as prevention is better than cure,” said Omwega.
He spoke at a time when more than 50 cases of child defilement have been reported in his office since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, a figure that he said was higher compared to the previous years.
“Most of the cases still go unreported because the victim’s family agree to resolve the issue at a family level. This doesn’t bring justice to the victims of defilement as the culprits go unpunished,” reiterated Omwega.
The senior counsel lamented that the trend of hiding culprits had led to increase in retrogressive cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation and early marriages in the pastoralist’s society.
It is sad, he said, that culprits of defilement compromise some parents with cheap gifts such as goats, sheep or cattle so that they can conceal such information.
“The culprits team up with the locals who in turn refuse to volunteer as witnesses in court, a situation that makes it difficult to end the vice,” he said.
By Ann Salaton
