Kilifi County leaders have raised concern over the alarming rate of teenage pregnancies which are a threat to the development of the girl child.
This follows reports that the county is top among the counties in the country in cases of early pregnancies among girls of school going age.
Isabella Mwangi, the Programs officer of CREAW- a civil rights organization that champions for the girls and women’s rights, said Kilifi County is at 47 percent in terms of child pregnancies adding that as per national crimes the county is among the top five counties particularly in cases of rape and defilement in the country.
She said Kilifi County has also recorded the highest number of defilement in the country adding that she said there is an emerging trend of Sodomy cases which now boys are talking about it.
“As we celebrate the efforts of women, we need to see how best we can resolve these problems, that’s why we came together from all over the county,’’ she said.
Kilifi County Governor Amason Kingi said statistics have shown that many girls were impregnated as early as standard eight forcing them to drop out of school.
Addressing hundreds of women and general members of public on Friday at Alaskan grounds in Malindi the governor said they got the report recently during a meeting with Bill gates foundation who wanted to launch a program to assist the girl child and women.
Kingi announced that his government would launch a door to door program to sensitize families on the importance of educating the girl child and protecting them from such cases.
“We are going to launch a program for dialogue with girls, with the continuous rate of cases of early pregnancies we shall miss professionals, I need to handle the issue thoroughly I will go to every homestead to seek a solution to the problem,’’ said the governor.
Kingi said women are the ones that are suffering adding that its time the issue is discussed in detail to ensure women are recognized.
He said part of his program would include family planning for women to ensure they are enlightened. The governor took the opportunity to praise Malindi Member of Parliament for being the first elected woman legislator.
“We need women to begin fighting for positions that were traditionally dominated by men, in 2022 we need more Aishas,’’ he said.