It's madness to lower consent age, Matiang’i says

The government will not allow the age of sexual consent to be lowered from 18 to 16 as proposed by some leaders, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has said. 

“It is madness. How can you be such idle to engage our children in that manner,” Matiang’i said. 

Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndungu’s had earlier said that those making such proposals wanted children to be given licenses to prematurely indulge in sexual activities and take alcohol, urging the CS not to allow it.

Ndungu cautioned parents against failing to watch over their children.

Matiang’i urged Kenyans to join the state in the fight against gambling and gaming machines, cheap illicit brew and drug trafficking.

The CS said that his office will not respond to investors seeking clearance for banned substances.

“There is an investor who wants to establish a factory in Kenya to process bhang for pharmaceuticals use, we will not respond to the letter. We want him to advance so that we sort him out,” he said.

The CS said that Kenyans have to choose whether they are going to honour God by nurturing children in a godly manner or the devil by allowing all manner of things done by individuals just to make money.

Matiang’i also defended the government’s stance on the fresh vetting of firearm holders in the country since the process of legalising weapons had been corrupted.

“People owned firearms that they did not even know how to use. Let us work together to clean up and sort out some of these things that we are dealing with,”  Matiang’i said.

Matiang’i said that the government remains committed to making investments in education.

The CS spoke during a Prize Giving Day at Pangani Girls High School in Nairobi on Friday.

He gave President Uhuru’s donation of Sh1 million as lunch to the school’s 1,284 girls.

He also announced that the government will issue the school Sh50 million for infrastructural development this financial year.

Matiang’i was accompanied by permanent secretaries Belio Kipsang (Education), Zeinab Hussein (State Department of Correctional Services, Health Chief Administration Secretary Susan Mochache. 

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