Kangaroo Courts Still A Hindrance To Reporting GBV Cases Among Children In Bungoma

By Isabella Maua

Poverty, irresponsible societal behavior and drunkenness have been cited to be the major factors influencing child neglect and gender based violence among children in Mt Elgon.

Despite having rising number of such cases in villages and households, they remain unreported while some end up in kangaroo courts.

This was revealed during the sensitization sessions for area Advisory Committees on gender based violence prevention and response including harmful traditional practices and other forms of GBV in a meeting held by Kenya Red Cross Bungoma with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland in Kapsokwony.

Speaking during the closed door review- meeting, Janet Khisa, the county GBV Programme officer challenged the committee members including the media, medical practitioners, chiefs, clergy and nyumba kumi to create awareness within their communities.

“We should all be whistle blowers in our areas of jurisdiction so as to amplify this fight against GBV, especially now that schools have closed,” she noted.
According to the report presented to the committee dated 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024, there were no cases of child pregnancy, FGM, sexual assault, or incest.

On a contradictory note, most of the members of the committee, including the police, confirmed that they had recorded many such cases or at least encountered them along their daily duties.

In reference to that, Kapsokwony Police Station OCS Vincent Morara challenged the community at large to be vigilant in matters concerning our children and not leave it to a specific group of people.

There were only 222 cases of child neglect, 62 of child custody, 11 of truancy, and 5 of defilement.

“We have all witnessed that most of these child neglect and school dropout cases have been brought about by drunkenness among one or both parents in the families we live with; according to Children Act 2022, anyone can report such cases to police since it’s against the rights of those children,” Morara highlighted.

Mt. Elgon Assistant County Commissioner Peter Matundura also challenged the police to apprehend neglect parents and let them serve as an example to others by serving their term in jail.

Selly Musani, a teacher in one of the schools, cited that it is crucial to create awareness among teenagers, especially in schools, and even more that they are away for long holidays.

“We have some malicious people who are misleading our young girls and boys, especially by feeding them with wrong sexual information; we better step in and offer counselling before it is too late,” she reiterated.

According to the ministry of education in Bungoma County, 260 candidates are expectant, with most of them showing signs of delivering soon in the examination rooms.

The majority of pregnant students are from Mount Elgon, Cheptais, and Kopsiro sub counties.