•Elders urge state to do enough research before banning disco matangas.
•They blame technology for the rising cases of teen prgnancies.
Mijikenda elders in Kilifi county have warned men impregnating young girls that will curse them if they don’t stop.
The elders made the remarks Wednesday at the Malindi District Cultural Centre where they had congregated for special prayers.
They lamented that teenage pregnancies in the county had reached alarming levels and that if a curse is not imposed on perpetrators, the current and future generations will be doomed.
“We are warning those who are preying on our girls that they either stop the habit or get life-threatening curses that will ruin their peace throughout their lives,” Mzee Stanley Kenga from Kaya Ribe warned.
He wondered why even teachers were engaging in the vice instead of undertaking their educational roles and imparting morals in the young minds.
The calls by the elders come following an increase in the number of reported cases of teenage pregnancies by the county government. According to the report, some 17,000 teenage pregnancy cases have been reported recently.
Mijikenda Kaya Elders Association chairman Mzee Tsuma Nzai said the modern lifestyles and digital evolution was partly to blame for the menace and cautioned the government against banning discos in funerals and weddings before carrying out proper research.
“We welcome the government’s efforts in combating the scourge but again it should be clear that banning some activities in the pretext of fighting early pregnancies will not help because such ceremonies existed even before I was born and there were no teenage pregnancies then. Nowadays children use the internet and phones to communicate,” he said.
Nzai urged the national and county governments to work closely with the elders to pass the correct information to parents and their children.
Speaking during County Development Implementation Committee meeting, Kilifi county commissioner Magu Mutindika said the national government plans to ban burial ceremonies on Saturdays and Sundays because many girls are seduced, sexually abused and end up conceiving after attending them.
He said his office is consulting with other stakeholders in education before the ban of burial ceremonies on weekends is effected.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)