Defilement suspects should be denied bond while those convicted should be castrated, an Embu knut official has said.
Kenya National Union of Teachers Embu executive secretary Josphat Kathumi said it was sad and disheartening that suspects of defilement are arraigned every week.
He said sexual exploitation including marriage of underage girls had become rampant since schools were closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He said some of the suspects are respected religious leaders, traders, teachers and relatives, among others who are supposed to give guidance and protect minors.
“The other day some two girls from Kamiu were rescued after being misled by some adult men, one a miraa trader, before marrying them off,” Kathumi said.
The Knut official said the surge in sexual harassment during the Covid-19 period has caused concern, adding that teachers play a great role in the protection of children while they are in school.
He lamented that when the schools reopen, teachers will have a difficult time dealing with the children as they will have changed a lot owing to the environment they have been in for months.
Kathumi said it is expected that many children might not return to school after becoming mothers.
He suggested that Parliament should come up with harsher laws against sex abusers and those who engage in child marriage. He proposed castration of the convicts and also denial of bond to suspects.
Kathumi said many children were exposed to sex after the government started online learning as it was difficult to monitor what sites children visited on their phones.
Online learning, he said, failed and instead destroyed vulnerable children irreparably.
Edited by R.Wamochie
