At least six children in Uasin Gishu County are defiled every month.
According to the county coordinator for children’s services Richard Mugata, 68 defilement cases were reported during the 2021/2022 financial year.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting held in an Eldoret hotel, Mugata said child violence reported in the county was a serious concern that needs concerted efforts to address.
Mugata said Ainabkoi sub-county had the highest cases of reported defilement cases at 38, followed by Turbo sub-county with 14 cases being reported during the period.
Soy Sub County had eight cases, Kapseret six, while Moiben and Kesses reported the least number of cases, one each.
“These are cases that have been reported, but there could be many more cases of abused children that go unreported, such cases as incest are largely not reported because the concerned are more interested in protecting the family name at the expense of the abused child,” said the county children’s coordinator.
“The county has very high number of neglected children, abandoned, and abused, as stakeholders we need to pull together in order to reduce this trend,” he said.
The number of children neglected during the period stood at 2516, with Turbo constituency having the highest with 764 cases of child neglect being reported, it was followed closely by Soy constituency which had 568 cases of neglect being reported.
Mugata said child neglect, where parents are not supporting their children was the highest problem facing children in the county. He noted that the challenges arose from families that have differences including divorce and separation.
