The race for Kenya's next president has already heightened, with the four candidates that have been cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission already launching manifestos.
This year, the electoral agency managed to clear four candidates within the stipulated timeline, paving the way for them to outline their agenda for the country.
On the face of it, among all the presidential candidates, the agenda on building and restoring the economy through fighting graft is the most prominent and that is what will be their centre of focus once in office.
However, as presidential candidates spruce up their manifestos, Kenya must address the influx of street families by giving the way forward on how they plan to address this issue.
It is quite unfortunate that no presidential hopeful is talking about the surge of street families.
Over the past couple of years, there has been an increase in the number of children being forced to the streets due to poverty, rape, abandonment, homelessness, landlessness, and orphaned among other factors.
The population of street families has continued to grow over the years.
Human rights violations against children between the 1990s to the present have become a common and disturbing occurrence in many African countries.
In Kenya, an estimated 60,000 children and young people live on the streets of Nairobi and this number is growing.
The majority of these children living on the streets in Nairobi come from Kibera, Kawangware and Eastlands.
To survive, they rely on scavenging and begging.
These families are subject to discrimination and marginalisation, making it more difficult for them to integrate back into society.
Other than those living on the streets, some youth who have gone up to the university level of education and have not been able to get jobs have also joined the streets and resorted to crime.
Street families and other poor people live within our communities suffer yet most people cannot assist them.
They see them as a burden.
The excuse for failure to help these people is that everyone has their problems which is inhumane.
The presidential candidates should consider street families and ensure the manifestos have outlined ways to help them.
The county governments should ensure they take the issue of street families seriously since these street families are our own and we should own them.
No matter how advanced economic development models the winning team has crafted in their manifestos, meaningful progress will not be achieved unless the issue of street families is addressed.
Students at Rongo and St Paul's University
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
