Population
The National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) is now calling on all duty bearers in Garissa County to sustain their campaign in ridding the region of cultural practices that hinder women empowerment.
NCPD Director General Dr. Mohamed Abey said early marriages, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancy should be tackled head on if young girls and women are to access opportunities offered by government and other agencies.
Dr. Amey noted that the retrogressive cultural practices are hindering women from competing with their male counterparts for resources meant to better their living standards. “The government and other state agencies are offering equal opportunities to all Kenyans irrespective of their gender but retrogressive cultural practices have denied our women these opportunities,” Dr. Amey said
“I want to urge on all duty bearers to play their part in ensuring that these retrogressive cultural practices are eliminated because they are illegal in the first place,” he added.
The director general said that there is need to continuously educate the general population on why these harmful cultural practices will lock out the women population in the region from accessing opportunities provided for by the government in empowering them.
Dr. Amey was speaking today at a Garissa hotel during the dissemination of the National Population Policy contained in the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2023. The policy aims to provide policy directions on the management of population and development issues in the Country so as to improve the quality of lives and wellbeing of the people.
He said Northern Kenya population dynamics is totally different from the rest of the country. “The poverty level here is also very high with more than 60 percent below the poverty line. Dependency ratio is also a big issue. Matters to do with maternal mortality are also quite high,” he noted.
Dr. Amey said that population dynamics is governed by the changing population size and age structure through changes in mortality, fertility, and migration. These three fundamental factors he added are, in turn, closely tied to development progress.
Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo while reiterating that population issues are central to economic development regretted that the large population of young persons has been largely viewed as a problem, rather than opportunity to spur Kenya’s socio-economic development calling on a change of mindset.
“Our greatest resource as a country is population. However, it is one thing having a resource and making good use of it is another thing,” Mwabudzo said. The county commissioner took issue with the poor planning in Garissa town adding that for a town to grow, proper planning was a major requirement.
Abdishukri Jelle from MUHURI challenged NCPD to stop only focusing on broader demographic trends and general socio-economic factors noting that they should also address specific issues such as abductions, enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings.
These issues he noted can have profound impacts on the population and economy including psychological trauma, loss of workforce and destabilization of communities.
“Highlighting these aspects in National policies could lead to more comprehensive strategies for addressing the underlying causes and effects of such human rights violations. It might also encourage more robust data collection, support for the affected families and international collaboration to prevent and respond to these serious issues,” he noted.
During the workshop, the stakeholders developed specific action plan for the county.