Kajiado County Commissioner David Kipkemei was on Friday moved to tears after making an impromptu visit to a girls’ rescue centre in Mosiro ward.
Kipkemei had visited 46 girls at the centre
in West of Kajiado where most of the roads are dilapidated.
“I have never seen anything like this. The girls are here because they fear they will be forcefully married off or circumcised by their own parents,” said Kipkemei on Saturday.
“This is archaic, barbaric and outright beastly at this century for people to adopt this practice of marrying off children when they are supposed to be in school,” said the commissioner.
Speaking at a different event in Namanga, Governor Joseph Lenku said those marrying off their girls sould be treated as murderers.
"If you see those men forcing these young girls into marriage, they should be cut off their heads. This is because this practice is akin to killing the young children, " said Lenku.
Speaking while opening the new Namanga Retail Market on Friday, Lenku said the early marriages menace had brought shame to both the country and the Maasai community.
"It is a big shame. This practice is retrogressive. It is obnoxious and it is terrible!" he said.
