Machakos county commissioner Fredrick Ndunga has called on religious groups to organise interfaith prayers to stem rising suicide and incest cases.
Ndunga said the two challenges have greatly bothered him since he took over the county leadership four months ago.
He said the crimes are ungodly and need a spiritual rather than an administrative approach to tackling them hence the reason he reached out to all local faith leaders.
The county commissioner spoke on Friday in Mavoko during a farewell party for his predecessor Esther Maina. She heads to Kakamega as Western region coordinator.
Ndunga said the county was recording one to two cases of suicide and two to three cases of defilement every day.
“If you check our daily reports, you can’t miss one or two cases every day. Even by end of today, one to two will have been reported,” he said.
Ndunga also said some men are marrying school going children contrary to the law.
“The worst of them all is what I would call incestuous defilement and they are many here; we receive two or three cases every day,” he told the audience.
County and national government officials, business, religious and community leaders and the media were present.
He appealed to area leaders to help him stop the suicides and defilement cases before they take root.
“Indeed, we can’t eradicate them using batons or guns or even whips. No, they require an approach that reaches deep into the spirits of the people and that’s why we are reaching out to the clerics to coordinate for divine intervention,” Ndunga said.
This is the second time in as many months that the administrator is raising the red flag on the crimes and appealing to clerics to come together and address them.
During the Mashujaa Day celebrations on October 20, he raised the same issues and appealed to clerics to organise interfaith prayers over them.
On Covid-19, the administrator called on local residents to strictly observe the laid down preventive measures or else the government would be forced to enforce them.
“Covid-19 threat is very serious. As from Saturday, the local county and national government officials will start by urging residents to uphold all the guidelines and if we note that they are adamant, we will resort to enforcement,” he warned.
He said that some were of the misguided view that when they are asked to protect themselves they are doing so for the government.
“There are some people who are observing these guidelines only whenever law enforcers are nearby,” he said.
Maina thanked the Machakos community for the love and support they had extended to her during her one and half year stint as their county commissioner.
She called on her civil service colleagues to embrace servant leadership and rededicate themselves to the service of wananchi.
Maina urged public servants to be disciplined, obedient, humble and patriotic whenever they serve as a sure way of rising in their careers.
