As the world prepares to celebrate the International Day of the African Child, Nyeri County Director of Children Services Joseph Mburu has raised alarm over the high number of child neglect cases recorded in the county.
According to Mburu, out of all the child related issues that his Directorate handles, 75 per cent of them relate to failure by parents or guardians to take care of the children. Moreover, nearly 50 per cent of all the 970 children that the Directorate has placed in 25 charitable institutions are due to child neglect related issues.
“Our biggest issue is child neglect and the contributing factors include high poverty levels, drug and substance abuse by the parents, abandonment and irresponsible parenthood. This neglect is what has exposed these children to abuse because when you do not take care of your children then someone will take advantage and abuse them,” he said.
The revelations come in the wake of a series of child abuse incidents in Nyeri’s Majengo slums, the county’s largest informal settlement.
In the month of May alone, the Nyeri Central Sub-County Children Office, where the slum is situated, recorded five cases of child abuse with one resulting in the brutal murder of a seven-year-old girl.
A report from the Children’s Office shows that four of the cases involved girls while one involved a boy. Sadly, the report reflects the grim reality of child neglect by parents as the findings indicate that cases were reported by concerned neighbours since the parents and guardians of the victims are drug abusers or addicts.
“Our observation is that the reason the parents fear arrest due to abandonment. The informal settlements in Nyeri is where these alleged perpetrators reside and they and they eye these innocent children knowing very well that they do not have caregivers during the day,” reads the report compiled on June 5.
In an interview with KNA, Mburu highlighted poor parenting as the main contributing factor that is exposing children to different forms of abuse.
The County Director noted that an increasing number of parents are slowly negating their parental responsibility to relatives and in some instances, their neighbours.
“We are witnessing a situation where children are left to raise themselves. In other cases, parents are over trusting their children with just anyone including strangers. We have also noted a trend where parents are allowing their children to refer anyone to aunty or uncle and this may cause a child to form close bonds with people who may end up harming them so we are encouraging parents to know where to draw the boundaries reserve these endearments for their relatives,” said Mburu.
The situation is so alarming that for the last two weeks, stakeholders in child protection, security, and the county government have held a series of meetings in a bid to find a lasting solution to the growing concern.
In one such meeting held on June 13, the stakeholders agreed to launch a county sensitization campaign to educate members of the public on child welfare.
According to Nyeri Central Deputy County Commissioner Maina Ngunyi, the campaign would also target members of the community, chiefs and their assistants, church leaders and law enforcement officers.
“We have agreed that the community needs to be reminded on how to take care of our children. The time has come for all of us to collectively stay vigilant and protect our children from any form of abuse,” he stated.
During the meeting, which was attended by Dr Margaret Karungaru, a Commissioner of the National Gender and Equality Commission, the stakeholders agreed to push for the immediate retraining of first responders on how to handle child abuse cases.
Dr Karungaru noted that they would also use the platform to enlighten the public on how to report child abuse as well as suspicious cases involving child welfare and ensure perpetrators are brought to book.
“We have agreed that one of the recommendations for Nyeri County will be the retooling of first responders who include the chiefs and the police because we do not want the perpetrators to walk scot-free. We also know that the chief is the first person that people turn to when there is an issue so that they must be equipped to identify and handle a victim of abuse,” she said.
Other interventions include working with the Ministry of Education to have Child Welfare issues and Gender Based Violence awareness integrated into the curriculum. The stakeholders noted that this would be critical in enlightening the children on the various forms of abuse that they are predisposed to and enhance their prevention strategies at an early age.
By Wangari Mwangi
