Kitui has received two million sanitary towels for schoolgirls in the county.
Woman Representative Irene Kasalu said 139,033 girls will get the 2,224,523 pads.
Kitui became the first to receive the pads being distributed by the government.
Distribution was launched by Gender CS Margaret Kobia on Friday.
The government has bought 14.8 million sanitary towels to be distributed to an estimated 3.7 million schoolgirls in all counties. A total of 250,250 schoolgirls are targeted in the pilot programme.
The pads will get to grips with
reproductive health needs of the teenagers and ensure they do not drop out of school.
Kasalu yesterday presided over the distribution at Kitui Central Primary School. Every student will get supplies to last four months.
“All girls in Standard Six to Eight will get sanitary towels. We will also distribute the pads to girls in secondary schools and institutions of special learning,” Kasalu said.
“You are special girls because you have been chosen for the kick-off
of this project. We want positive results,” Kasalu told the girls.
She said they will no longer have an excuse not to excell in class and in sports.
“You must now compete with the boys and beat them in the national exams,” she said.
RAPE FATHERS
The MP warned fathers not to
molest their daughters. She claimed a large number of cases of sexual harassment involved fathers.
Such immoral behaviour must be fought and completely contained because they ruin the future of girls, she said.
“I was shocked, upon my election, to learn there were so many rape cases. Most of them involved fathers who raped their daughters,” Kasalu said.
“Such people should be excluded from society because they belong to prison where they should rot forever.”
The MP asked chiefs to notify her office in the event any schoolgirl in her constituency is sexually violated.
Kitui county commissioner Samuel Kimiti said those introducing young people to drugs will be arrested.
Simiti also warned men luring young girls into sex.
”Anyone who messes up with schoolgirls will face the music,” Simiti said.
He encouraged parents to take their children to school.
“Parents who have not taken their children to school are doing a great disservice to this nation and the individual child,” he said.