Matiang'i, leaders warn of rape problem in Nyamira

 

Leaders have raised the alarm over rising rape and defilement cases in Nyamira county, warning perpetrators of stern action.

Woman Representative Jerusha Momanyi said the law will catch up with the lawbreakers.

“Why should we keep on being silent while some wolves are out here destroying the future of our daughters? We should have a way of handling these issues before it’s too late,” she told the Star on Friday.

Last week, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i warned chiefs about the problem in the county, saying the administrators must be serious on the matter or pack up and go.

“This is a very serious issue that needs all of us to think twice. I really do not understand where we got such a habit from. Our community has been very respectful until lately when such kinds of evil have been experienced,” Matiang’i said when he toured the county.

“And to you chiefs and assistant chiefs, we are aware such are brought about due to the consumption of illicit brews and drug abuse, which is under your watch. It is now high time that you decided whether you will work or you will go home,” he warned.

He asked young men who for any reason are unable to woo women to seek the help of their elders to get married instead of destroying the future of schoolgirls.

“We have elderly men and women who will help you get married to a woman who has reached the age of marriage if you are unable to approach one. There is no need for you to waste yourself on school-going children and then call yourself a man,” he said.

Leaders are concerned that many youths caught in the vice are rotting behind bars, wasting their talents that should be deployed to serve the country.

 

Christine Maranga, a health counselor, said some youths engaged in the vice have been lynched, causing pain to their families.

“It disheartens and hurts that most of those doing this are very young people who must pay through being killed by irate community members, which causes distress to their families,"she said.

Kisii and Nyamira counties have been flagged as rape and defilement hot spots.