Local actors fighting teen pregnancy in Trans Nzoia have decried the increase of killings of the girls to cover up the cases.
Led by Bishop Edward Khaoya of Kitale Family House of Hope, the actors who run Teen Mums Rescue centre, have said that there is an increase in deaths of female teenagers who have active cases in court regarding their pregnancies.
“We have received an alarming number of pregnant teens who are found murdered and their bodies being thrown into bushes of late with the latest incident being of a teen who was coerced by the man who defiled her and impregnated her,” they said.
It is said that the perpetrators fear stiffer penalties and thus resolve to do away with the main evidence which is the girl to weaken the cases.
“When someone hears that he will be jailed for more than 40 years and he is out on bond he resolves to end the life of the prime evidence thus leading to the rampant cases of the deaths,” Bishop Khaoya said.
Khaoya has further castigated the move by courts to award bonds to suspects saying that it has led to an increase of kangaroo courts in the area.
“When a suspect is released on bond, he makes sure he resolves the case within the family circle with the family sending the girl away thus weakening the cases. It means key witnesses do not show up to testify against the accused,” he explained.
The bishop has further lamented over the increase in numbers of teenage mothers who got their second pregnancy due to stigma and poverty.
“98% of teenage mothers bear their second children in less than two years after the first one,” he said.
Cases of incest and defilement to persons known to the victim are also on the rise with some of the cases being perpetuated with biological fathers and spiritual leaders.
“We have two distinctive cases in our centre where one of the girls was defiled and impregnated by her biological father. In another case, a girl sought sexual advice from her local pastor and I’m sad to say this because the pastor ended up defiling her severally leading to her pregnancy,” he explained.
For now, the home has succeeded in reforming more than 2200 teen mums with 600 being given sewing machines to start afresh their lives with 38 still undergoing training at the centre.
“We are trying to help the girls get back on their feet in a bid to help them reintegrate into the society and earn their daily bread.”
At the centre, we meet two of the apprentices who are undergoing their training and they tell us their tearful stories.
“My name is Jane (not her real name) I come from Elgeyo Marakwet. My family was forcing me to get circumcised as they had gotten a suitor for me,” she narrated.
Jane says that he ran away from her home with the help of her teachers and that she found her way to the rescue centre.
“I was in Standard Six and a secondborn in my family and they wanted me to undergo the cut in order to pave the way for my other siblings to undergo the cut,” she revealed.
Jane is not the only victim as we also meet Susan (not her real name) who was defiled by her neighbour.
“I was at home when a male neighbour came and asked my mother if he could send me to buy him painkillers as he had a toothache,” she says as she explains that, “On our way to his house, he forced me into a maize plantation.”
