As the day of the African child is marked in this month of June, we look at the state of the Kenyan child within the devolved governance structure.
In Nandi county, the perspective of state of the Kenyan child is still wanting since their rights are being violated on day to day basis and such cases are done culturally at the expense of the child’s health/rights.
This is according to the department of child rights through the ministry of child welfare society of Kenya Nandi Branch.
Speaking to www.westfm.co.ke in his office Ronald K. Chirchir, Nandi Branch Administrator for the child welfare society of Kenya said the state is still wanting as children are being neglected by their parents.
“They are not given their rights especially those with physical disabilities.” He said.
Such cases are still high in Nandi but the reasons given by the family of the neglected ones is some how genuine, like a case where a child kept indoors to prevent him/her from getting lost due to mental state.
He said that the devolution in Nandi has not really brought benefits that the Kenyan child can sing home as the departments dealing with children is not well funded in order to support the children properly as expected.
He said currently 4290 children from poor family backgrounds are dropping out of school and such cases are associated with early pregnancies, child defilement which is still very high in Nandi, child negligence and child labour.
The good things a bout devolution for the Kenyan child is the free laptops projects/books from the National government to enhance education/research.
Provision of free primary/day school support from both the national government and the county governments is also a good move in promoting the education of the African child.
