GARISSA COUNTY: A colourful wedding in Garissa town was Sunday night thrown into confusion after the event was disrupted by banner-waving civil society activists accompanied by police officers.
The ceremony was proceeding as planned, before the activists alleging that the bride was a minor and a pupil at a local primary school stormed the hall, where happy family members from the bride and groom’s side were dancing to tunes of Somali weeding songs.
The activists say the girl is a standard five pupil.
Police and the activists raided the magnificent weeding at a village near Garissa Teacher Training Collage arresting three people including the 22-year-old groom.
Chege Simon, the Garissa Sub-county Children officer said they suspect the underage girl was being married off to the man who alleged come from the abroad purposely for the weeding.
Chege said: “We have now taken the girl to Garissa Children Rescue Centre, a statutory centre that falls under the children department and hosts victims of early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) in the North-Eastern region as age assessment is been conducted to verify whether she was underage or not.”
He said the other two people who were arrested were the girl’s aunt and father who claimed that the girls was ripe for marriage in accordance to the law of the country, Islamic and Somali practices since she was over 18 years.
There was near stampeded as attendants tried to run away when police officers entered the wedding venue, chairs and other goodies brought for the newlywed were strewn all over in disarray.
The three suspects will be arraigning in Garissa court soon to answer several charges including that of violation the girl’s ‘right to grow peacefully and attend school like other children’.
Child rights coordinator at a local NGO Womankind Kenya, Hassan Ismail who took part in the operation said it is a common phenomenon to witness men from overseas ‘shopping’ for young school going girls, after giving parents financial incentives.
He said: “Unless these cases are taken seriously and punish the culprits, girl child education will suffer from the threats of child molesters who mostly come under the pretext of marriage just to dump the girls, after a short use and later disappear abroad without offering any upkeeps to the lady they leave behind.”
Ismail appealed to parents and guardians to give their children the space to pursue education adding that there were many young girls who were put into such forced marriage who are today wallowing in destitution after being used and dumped by men.
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