Enforce laws that protect children

Increasingly, it has become commonplace to find children as young as five years hawking food, sweets or household items along major roads, in estates and within urban centres. In Nairobi particularly, babies who can hardly speak, approach passers-by with begging bowls in hand. It is a sad situation.

Looked at objectively, this is child labour, which our Constitution outlaws. Once schools close, these children are denied the chance to be kids, they lack the opportunity to study to be able to compete with their compatriots on equal footing because their parents require them to lend a hand in looking for money to sustain them.