Some parents in Kiambu County have been accused of sending their children to the streets to beg for alms in order to fend for their families.
The accusation was made by the principal county children’s officer Mong'are Mwambi who pointed out that a recent crackdown on street children in Kiambu, Thika and Kikuyu towns netted approximately 200 children out of which 20 admitted that they had been sent by their parents to beg for alms.
Speaking in her office in Kikuyu town Tuesday, Mwambi cautioned such parents that it was an offence to abrogate their responsibilities of taking care of their children.
He warned that those found doing so would be arrested and prosecuted.
Mwambi also attributed the causes of children running away from their homes to live on the streets to what he described as ‘push factors’ such as hunger, child labour and peer pressure.
He added that others are hostilities meted out to the children by their parents, poverty and the children being orphans.
He decried the small number of registered children homes in the county that can barely absorb the ever increasing number of neglected children.
“This is a stark contrast compared with the incessant ballooning numbers of neglected children churned out in the streets daily,” he stated.
The children’s officer added that 100 of the children who were arrested were taken to remand facilities in Thika and Kiambu that care for children while 40 were absorbed by children homes.
Twenty of the children who admitted to have been send by their parents to beg, said Mwambi, were taken back to their homes.
The officer further issued a stern warning to the perpetrators and auxiliaries of child labour in the county saying those who will be found will face the law.