By Okong’o Oduya
Cases of rape and defilement among young girls and old women are increasingly becoming rampant in Teso South, Busia County. This was raised the area member of parliament Hon. Mary Emase.
Emase’s sentiments comes barely a week after a five year old girl was defiled by a 13 year old boy a few kilometers away from the MPs home in Teso South. A class six boy at Obekai primary school is said to have cornered the young girl morning hours as she was heading to school at Obekai Baptist Church Academy before taking her to the nearby river where the act took place.
According to the victim’s parents, a passer-by heard the cries of a child in a bush around the river and went to see what was happening, it was then that the who was caught red handed ran a way leaving the girl in pain. She was taken to school before her parents were traced then later taken to Alupe hospital for treatment as the boy was later arrested by the police officers from Adungosi police station where the case was reported.
The girl is said to be recovering but still cannot walk well due to pain she is going through. The suspect is still in custody as they await the case to be mentioned later in the month.
In her press briefing after attending a mass at Obekai Catholic Church in her constituency, the Member of Parliament noted that there is need for drastic action to be taken to address the issue before it goes out of hands. She urged all the stakeholders including parents, administration, the county government, churches and teachers to unit and address the problem.
She further said that there is need to stop organizing discos in funerals famously known as Disco Matanga as one of the measures to cab the problem. She urged parents and local administration to be on watch out and stop these discos while parents to be vigilant on their children not sneak out at night to attend this kind of dances at night.
She noted that disco matanga is the major cause of early pregnancies, school dropout, and early marriage among youth since most of cases are reported during and after these events especially during the holidays.
“Now that we are going to have long December holidays, we need to prevent our girls from being the victims of the cases which later affect their education .
She further emphasized that courts should handle rape cases with immediacy to help the victims get justice they deserve besides stopping other people with such behaviors in future.
Jennifer Karani the area resident associated consumption of illegal brew in the region being the major cause of old women being raped adding that once they drink they lose morals and can be used by anybody.
“Cases of rape among our girls this area are alarming and the efforts to address them are facing lots of challenges. For older women alcohol is the major reason because once they are drunk they are used then left there. If the old people avoid drinking, they will live a safe life,”
According to Mary Makokha Director Rural Education and Empowerment Program (REEP) the area is notorious for defilement and rape cases.She says that some the area leaders have been protecting the perpetrators.
She says parties involved have always been settling the cases at home in what she said protecting the image of the families involved.
She attributed poverty, lack of proper parental hood and corruption as one of the recipe behind these cases. She further said cases in court related to defilement and rape have not sailed through because of corruption hence denying the victims justice.
“Poverty and corruption played a very big role in promoting these cases. Rape and defilement cases in court take long time or evidence is destroyed by the police officers,” She sadly notes.
Through the project of generosity of girls program Mary says that parents have abandoned their children becoming vulnerable to ‘sex prays’ including teachers. She further said relationships between teachers and students are on rise within the region a move she said her efforts to stop the habit have been frustrated by the leaders who protect them.
Justice Martha Koome , Judge Court of Appeal and Chair , NACJ (National Council on the Administration of Justice )Special Task Force on Children Matters notes with a lot of concern how cases involving children had weak investigations leading to collapsing of many cases. She pointed out . “The children’s Act has not been aligned to the constitution and implementation of the act making it very difficult to handle matters on children especially crime related issues. Also the statutory institutes that are mandated to help children are tucked up, no one knows where they are and a few are aware of their existence.”
She further says that out of the four cases at the court of Appeal three are on defilement somethings she says points out to a rise in the cases.
Kenya is a signatory to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (also called the ACRWC or Children’s Charter) which was adopted by Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1990 .Like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Children’s Charter is a comprehensive instrument that sets out rights and defines universal principles and norms for the status of children.
