No amount of talking is going to banish one of the greatest assaults on the dignity of the child like child prostitution.
Even as provincial administrators and labour officials in Taita-Taveta District decried the escalating cases of child prostitution and labour in the County, the rest of the world was busy marking yet another global day dedicated to the children — in this case orphans.
Voi/Tausa District Officer her County Employment counterpart rightly point to a growing malaise that has reached alarming levels and properly demanded swift action against child smugglers, traffickers, employers, exploiters and abusers.
In their limited jurisdiction, these two officers have to contend with long-distance lorry drivers who have singularly glorified child prostitution along the places in which they lay over for rest and relaxation.
Unfortunately, too, unscrupulous drivers using cash inducements to lure young girls into unsafe sex, thereby fanning the rapid spread of HIV and Aids scourge in the region. The mere preying on their naÔvetÈ and grinding poverty is just as bad as the crime of bar and lodging operators that turn a blind eye and allow underage girls into their premises.
Children, throughout civilisation, have had laws to guarantee their survival, as well as physical and emotional wellbeing, for they have been deemed pure, physically weak and inheritors of the reins of society.
Conspiracy of silence
As such, children are not supposed to engage in any form of employment as this activity violates the children’s fundamental rights. In Kenya this is criminalised under the Children Act and Sexual Offences Act. Over and above these, the usual other basic rights are entrenched in the Bill of Rights under the new Constitution.
In recent months, there has been a significant rise in cases of child defilement right across the country. Whether this is due to better policing, vigilance or a more informed population coming out to report such vices is not known. However, there has been an increase in the number of convictions of child molesters.
Several parents/guardians have also suffered the indignity of incarceration for forcing their children out of school and into early marriage and employment.
The Voi case stands out for the busy Mombasa-Bujumbura highway has proved to be a cesspit of immorality and decadence. Starting from the port settlements of Mombasa and Malindi, where beach tourism has attracted all sorts of shady characters and child sex tourists, the malaise is spreading inland and must be checked.
All along urban centres up country, are scores of children hawking sweets, cigarettes, fruits and even puppies. Many others are ‘employed’ as house help, garbage collectors, quarry hands, herders and errand boys.
All these activities are classified as crimes against the children of Africa and can draw stiff penalties should they make it to the magistrates’ courts. Many adults, however, scoff at these legal checks, praying that it is right as long as the long arm of the law does not reach out in their direction.
Clerics, civil society, the provincial Administration, courts of law, and even neighbours can end child abuse in all its forms. Like one running television advert says, it is the conspiracy of silence that allows all forms of legal infractions to take place against children.
Speak out and make a difference in the life of all minors. In fact, many prominent personalities today owe their rise to public profiles to advocacy they did on behalf of children, marginalised or abused sections of the society.
Sex workers
They owe today’s young generation their seats and success to this vulnerable constituency. Let the Ministry in charge of children roll up its sleeves and face down abusers. They will be surprised by the enthusiasm that the public will accord their efforts.
Lastly, closure or suspension of trading licences of beach hotels and lodgings that allow defilement will put paid to such activities.
Along the major highways, the initiative taken by various NGOs in collaboration with various friendly governments to sensitise truck drivers and rehabilitate commercial sex workers seem to be the way to eliminate this vice.
And finally, there can be replacement for personal discipline and moderation. That cannot be legislated and must come from within. It is a person’s conscience that determines what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
