City MCAs ask executive to end street children menace

Nairobi members of county assembly (MCAs) have asked the executive to end the street children menace in the capital.

The MCAs complained on Monday about a steady influx of the children yet the executive says it has been rescuing them every day. The Consortium of Street Children estimated in 2016 that there were over 60,000 street children in Nairobi.

LAXITY

The legislators accused the executive of laxity in dealing with the matter, noting the streets are flooded with children selling sweets and begging for money.

Nominated MCA Anne Thumbi sought to know why those rescued during regular roundups end up back on the streets.

Ms Thumbi added that most of the female ones have been roped into prostitution and are frequent guests at brothels in the city centre, while others are being used by disabled foreigners to beg for money from Nairobians.

“The number of children selling sweets and begging for money at night has become a menace. Instead of being in school they are out in the streets and brothels. I can confirm that,” she said.

Nominated MCA Doris Kanario said there are gaps in the systems for rescuing, rehabilitating and reintegrating the children back into society. She said the most affected areas are Uhuru and Moi Avenues, Jamia Mosque, Hilton Hotel and Globe Cinema roundabout.

CARTELS

Nairobi County Chief Security Officer Tito Kilonzi blamed cartels headed by foreigners for the increasing number of street families in Nairobi.

Mr Kilonzi noted that their work is to remove the children from the streets. He said that after swoops, enforcement officers hand the families to the managers of children's homes.

“Our work ends there," he told a joint sitting of the Nairobi Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs, and Children and Early Childhood Education committees,

Education and Social Services Chief Officer Eva Wairiuko defended the executive against accusations of laxity saying that in August alone, 248 street children were rescued and that 457 have been rescued since January.

The children were taken to four children homes – Makadara, Kayole, Shauri Moyo and Joseph Kang’ethe. Makadara has the biggest number of the children at 352 and is followed by Shauri Moyo with 48, Kayole 29 and Joseph Kang’ethe 28.

“We know some of them have families. We are not going to keep them away from their families. We have carried out home tracing and assessment and have successfully reintegrated 48 children,” said Ms Wairuko.

CHALLENGES

The chief officer said they have faced challenges such as escapes from rehabilitation centres but noted that over 300 children have been rehabilitated and enrolled in learning institutions.

“They are there ... I do not deny that. Some of them resist the new way of life and escape by mixing up with other people during church services but we have enhanced security to monitor visitors getting into our centres,” she said.

Chief Inspector Albert Osoro pointed out that lack of a law on how to deal with foreigners fuelling the influx of street families has been an impediment in the fight against the menace.

“We have taken several of them to court but they have been released as there are no laws that support their detention. We now rely on you (MCAs) to come up with such a law,” said Mr Osoro.

However, Ms Wairuko explained that they have put in place a raft of measures aimed at ending the street families menace.

They include offering free Early Childhood Development Education to increase access to schools and retention, working closely with enforcement teams to round up the children and take them to rehabilitation centres and sustained advocacy at both the family and community levels. She said 28 officers are already involved in the programme.