More than 4,000 schoolgirls in Turkana are pregnant, many because parents neglect them and are eager to marry them off in exchange for cattle.
County officials have warned that parents, ‘husbands’, chiefs and assistant chiefs will be punished for allowing child marriage.
The number of pregnancies has risen dramatically since schools were closed in March to reduce spread of the coronavirus. Communities are poorer and girls traditionally are seen as a source of wealth, more so in hard economic times.
A campaign has been launched to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, early and forced marriages and gender-based violence.
Agnes Mana, coordinator of child protection for Caritas in the Lodwar diocese, said most pregnancies are the fault of negligent parents. She also blamed cultural practices that allow teenage girls to be forced into early marriage in exchange for livestock as dowry.
“More than 4,000 school going children have been impregnated in Turkana. Many cases are unreported,” she said, citing figures from the Health ministry.
Caritas, the county and national governments and the International Rescue Committee are trying to sensitise the community about the importance of keeping girls in school and safeguarding them.
Mana deplored the fact that many parents are absent and have abandoned their responsibility to educate and take care of their daughters.
With parents gone, she said, children can access pornography – if they have internet access – leading to sexual experimentation.
Rael Akoru, Public Health officer in Turkana South subcounty, said for many years child and teen pregnancies have been fuelled by cultural practices of marrying off girls’ as soon as they begin menstruation.
She said pressure is being put on communities to end such marriages, using community health volunteers, health extension workers and public health officers.
“Do not value the girl child for the wealth she brings in livestock,” Akoru said.
Turkana county commissioner Wambua Muthama has said chiefs and assistant chiefs risk losing their jobs if they fail to report parents marrying off their girls.
He has threatened to arrest girls’ parents and the men who marry underage girls.
The county boss ordered chiefs to give him a list – for punishment – of all parents and men involved in teen marriages.
(Edited by V. Graham)
