Many cases of rape and defilement are not reported as compared with pregnancy cases that are brought to the attention of law enforcement.
Several cases go unreported hence no accurate data on the number of defilement and rape cases across the five Sub Counties in Nyamira County.
Billy Adera, who is a children officer in the Nyamira South sub-county said on Thursday that failure to report such cases of rape and defilement has hindered the process of clearly documenting the vices in the community.
“Our data may not coincide because most of these cases such as rape and defilement go unreported and therefore denying us the opportunity to have fully compiled data that may reflect the actual figures of those who go through these vices in society,” Adera said.
He further noted that only parents and guardians who are interested in the well being of their kin are ready to come out and report such incidents.
According to the statistics carried out by the department between July 2020 to March 2021 in the Nyamira South sub-county, 116 neglect cases have been reported,13 cases of child pregnancy have been reported, 15 defilement case,9 child labour cases and 4 marriage cases whereby areas of Nyamaiya Division, Keera Division and West Mugirango Location are on the lead.
“These defilement and rape cases are only reported by parents and family members to the affected persons who only want to help their kin get justice, but it seems to many rape or defilement is not a problem as much as pregnancy is, and that is why they would rather rush to report a pregnancy case than a defilement case,” Adera said in an interview.
An Area Advisory Council in the department of children services recently established that several young girls in Nyamira county have been engaging in employment that is not fair to them such as being barmaids and attendants at a young age, hence Adera called for intervention from both the public and the government to work in hand to curb such cases.
“Action has been taken to those employing young girls who are supposed to be in school, this is one of the reasons we need everyone who has reached the age of getting a national identification card to do so to help us identify the underage girls and boys who are engaging in illicit business,” Adera noted.
He also said the department of children services is pushing for the establishment of a child protection policy that will bring a solution to the suffering that young children especially girls go through.
By Darlington Mose
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