Deputy County Commissioner for Mumoni in Kitui County, Mary Awino, during the child protection forum last Thursday/Musembi Nzengu
The deputy county commissioner for Mumoni in Kitui county, Mary Awino, has fingered mothers in her jurisdiction for abetting abuse of their daughters through remaining silent.
“Children are being defiled by their fathers and the mothers occasionally enter into a conspiracy to conceal such crimes to protect their marriages. Such an act is satanic,” the administrator said.
Awino said mothers choosing to remain in a marriage after their daughters were abused was unacceptable. She asked them to get out of such marriages.
“It is better to allow such a marriage to end. Mothers do not bring forth co-wives for their husbands when they give birth to daughters,” she said.
The deputy commissioner further blamed mothers for dropping the ball by allowing daughters to undergo the unlawful and harmful female genital mutilation.
“I am so ashamed to be a mother. How can a mother passively stand by or participate in taking their children to undergo FGM? Shame on mothers who hide their children in the bush. I am very ashamed.”
Awino was speaking on Thursday at a meeting held at the Mumoni subcounty headquarters to deliberate on and find a solution to increased child abuse.
The forum was convened by the Flex Child Protection church networks in collaboration with Compassion International. Flex network chairman Rev Jacob Njagi presided over the forum.
Mothers must be involved for the fight against child abuse to succeed, Awino told stakeholders – drawn from sectors including the children department, education, courts, churches, health, police and national government .
“First line protection of a child lies with the mother from the time the child is young and suckling,” she pointed out. She added that mothers must be properly sensitised on matters of child protection.
The Flex child protection church network chairman, Rev. Jacob Njagi, and Deputy County Commissioner for Mumoni , Mary Awino, following the proceedings during the child protection forum last Thursday/Musembi Nzengu.
“We would not get a solution if we do not bring the mothers on board. Child protection is a mother’s indispensable responsibility from a child’s birth. Other people play a supplementary role.”
She said in order to fight the vice, it was the responsibility for all to recognise abuse, respond promptly, report to authorities, record and register the same with the relevant authority.
Rev Njagi noted that incidences of child abuse in the county were rising at an alarming rate. He said child neglect in Mwingi North topped 126 cases recorded from July 2024 to June this year.
“In our area, the leading form of abuse is child neglect. In Kitui county, child neglect is at 30.3 per cent while the national tally stands at 26.9 per cent. Our cases surpass the national average,” he said, lamenting that Mumoni residents were treading on dangerous ground with the increasing cases of child abuse.
“It is a ticking time bomb just like former President Uhuru Kenyatta predicted about Gen Zs. We may not see it today, but in the time to come we will see results. If we do not handle it today we will regret it tomorrow,” he said.
