Judiciary
Rachuonyo,
Oyugis law court senior Principal Magistrate Samson Ongeri has urged Home bay county residents to take the issues of abused children seriously. Ongeri said the court has always taken the cases of abused children with the seriousness it deserves, but the problem still continues to rise.
“Despite the stringent measures and sentences we continue to experience a large number of cases that are reported in the courts,” he said.
The magistrate said the high number of teenage pregnancies is alarming and called for concerted efforts from the church and child stakeholders to save the children from the perpetrators of sexual offences and improve their self-esteem for future careers.
He asked parents and caregivers to take care of the children and be ready to report the perpetrators, whenever such incidences occur to help in justice delivery to the affected child, noting that some parents hide children during court proceedings, which hampers the delivery of justice.
The magistrate was speaking Friday during the judiciary open day cum tree planting event held in Atela secondary school in Rachuonyo east Sub County, near Chabera trading centre considered a hot spot for child abuse cases.
“The reason we are here is to educate all members of the public in this area the need to shun sexual violence in all forms. We stand on this ground to urge the residents to let children be children,” he said.
However, the magistrate noted the rising cases of children arrested for being in conflict with the law and urged parents and the community at large to parent the children well, by allowing the youngsters to receive counseling.
“Even if a chief is the culprit, they should face the law. This is because if you look at these children, and if anything is done to the child, it will have far reaching consequences. The trauma the child goes through even if we do counseling, we will not end it, so let’s be careful,” he said
The judiciary open day was meant to sensitize residents on the issues of gender-based violence (GBV) and land succession matters, On land, the magistrate encouraged parents to prepare a will to avoid conflict later in life, some of which lead to murder.
He said already they have about 5 cases involving land and all the cases are just from one or two families. The deputy county commissioner advised parents to write a will to avoid conflict and perpetual war over properties saying nobody is going to live forever.
However, in case there is no written will, Ongeri said the parties concerned should meet as a family and go to court to file what he termed as succession proceedings.
“But before you file the proceedings, sit as a family and agree on how the succession is going to be done and the court will distribute the land accordingly,” he said. During the event, 1000 tree seedlings donated by the Lake Basin Development Authority were planted in Atela mixed Secondary and Atela primary school.
The event was attended by officials from various organizations among them FIDA, Child Fund, KenHa, LSK, ODPP, KENGEN and SUPKEM among others.