For some time now, this country has been struggling with the problem of teen pregnancy and its sister problem of early marriages.
The arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic appears to have turned the whole struggle upside down and flung wide open the doors of teenage pregnancy and possibly, early marriages, thus throwing away all the gains made over the years.
If current media reports are anything to go by, and I believe they are, Kenya now has a teen pregnancy epidemic on top of the Coronavirus pandemic.
There is an outbreak of pregnancies especially in poor rural communities and a number of informal settlements in our towns just because schools have been closed for longer than has been the case in our country.
The call by the government for our people to stay at home and stay safe from the Coronavirus became an excuse for the country to let go of caring for our girls, for parents to lose control or abdicate responsibility over the girls and for male predators to take full advantage of the girls, spreading unwanted pregnancies and potentially destroying the future of hundreds or thousands of girls.
This trend must not be allowed to proceed beyond where it is. More importantly, those who are responsible for this epidemic, either through acts of omission or commission must be made to pay for their crimes.
The government has a responsibility to protect the children whether they are in school or not.
The figures indicate that somebody slept on the job while the children were out of school. Those officers who slept on the job must be made to pay. This country has a countless number of officers ranging from Nyumba Kumi, to sub-chiefs, chiefs and Sub-County and County Commissioners. Every village and neighbourhood is covered. We deserve answers and action.
Parents too have responsibility to shield and protect the children. It is a responsibility we can not run away from or sublet to teachers or administrators. Child upbringing must be a shared responsibility. Every party must play its part. The party that fails must be held to account. The parents of the affected children must be made to answer. At the very least, they must help the country know those behind the pregnancies.
Yesterday, both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health appeared to doubt the figures, and indicated that they may be exaggerated and ill-informed. I want to hope that the ministries are right on this and that they will soon enough table before Kenyans the correct situation. However, I wish to note that the pregnancies don’t have to come in their thousands for us to be alarmed.
One teen pregnancy is too many. But in this case, we know it is not one or ten. They have always been many and the numbers can only go higher under the current circumstances.
If the reports are false alarm being spread by some NGOs who see it as a potential for more funding, those pursuing this agenda must be exposed and dealt with in accordance with the law.
But there was always a feeling that this pregnancy epidemic was coming. In fact, for some time now, a number of administrators, including county commissioners have been warning parents and potential criminals that action would be taken against them. It now appears that it was all talk, backed by no concrete plans to protect the girls and keep the predators at bay.
The government must show its commitment to the protection of girls by swinging swiftly into action arresting perpetrators. Educating the girl child is a very expensive and demanding exercise. It should not be left to waste just because a health crisis has arisen and the men have nothing to do with the time on their hands.
We want stiff punishment for pregnancies that have already occurred We want to see the faces behind the pregnancies, who must then be punished. More importantly, we want measures to ensure this does not happen again in the coming months.
