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State must do more to protect our children
A father who keeps his phone in hand, quietly hoping that someone will call to tell him his child has been found and is coming home.
There has been an alarming increase in the number of missing children in the country. Some children who are reported missing are found having been defiled, their innocence violently stolen from them.
Others are found dead, their bodies abandoned in forests, dumped in rivers, or discovered in circumstances too horrific to comprehend. Behind each missing child poster is a mother who cannot sleep.
A father who keeps his phone in hand, quietly hoping that someone will call to tell him his child has been found and is coming home. A sister or brother counting the days, longing for the moment their sibling walks through the door.
A family frozen in time, unable to grieve, yet unable to move on. The failure to adequately document, investigate and resolve these disappearances represents a serious failure by the State to protect its most vulnerable members, and it is one that is constitutionally inexcusable.
Article 53 of the Constitution provides that every child has the right to be protected from abuse, neglect and all forms of violence. This provision recognises children as rights holders deserving of special protection by virtue of their age, vulnerability and dependence on adults and institutions. We need to find out where our children are, and we need answers urgently. The people and institutions mandated to protect our children must be challenged and held to a higher standard.
These systems exist for a reason, and that reason is to safeguard the lives of our children. They must be better resourced, better coordinated and more responsive when a child goes missing. Kenya urgently needs a rapid child emergency alert and response system; a free, government-managed USSD service through which anyone can report a missing child directly to law enforcement in real time.
The moment a report is submitted, an immediate alert is pushed to all officers in the relevant area, triggering an instant on-ground response. Who is taking these children? This question cannot continue to hang in the air, unanswered and unaddressed. Our children deserve better systems, stronger protection, and a country that refuses to look away.
Chelsea Owino
Strike shouldn’t have ended without results
What was the point of the transporters’ strike if the main objective of lowering fuel prices was not achieved? Four lives were lost, 30 people injured, thousands forced to walk for kilometres and businesses brought to a standstill. It is agonising that in the face of such sacrifice, stakeholders could afford to settle for a seven-day window for discussions while the burden on ordinary citizens remained unchanged. When it comes to raising fuel prices, the decision is made overnight; the public is never given a grace period. Why then does relief require consultations and patience? If the planned talks yield nothing, the next wave of public anger will not be organised by union elites the State can easily manage, it will be driven by the raw, uncoordinated desperation of a populace that simply has nothing left to lose.
Edwin Kariuki, Mombasa
Political leaders should act with decorum
Political leaders should learn to be tolerant, respectful and stop insulting one another in public gatherings. We are setting a bad precedent for the youth when we engage in obscene language or talk negatively about someone’s physical features. The sad part of this negativity is that as the speakers spew their venom, the audience enjoys and punctuates it with claps and cheers. This happens right from the grassroots to the top political office holder. While this happens, there’s barely any condemnation, especially from religious leaders.
Damson Opiyo Onger, Koru
New HIV fight funding welcome
The Sh12.3 billion grant from the Global Fund to sustain HIV treatment for over 1.3 million people, reduce tuberculosis-related deaths and contain malaria is great news, coming at a time of sharp contraction in external health funding. I am happy to learn that HIV programmes will receive the largest share of Sh8.83 billion. The money will fund antiretroviral drugs, testing kits, laboratory reagents, condoms and community-based prevention and care programmes. Last year, the National Syndemic Disease Control Council revealed that new infections rose by 19 per cent from 16,752 to 19,791 while AIDS-related deaths reached 21,000. The funding will help to reverse this trend.
Kimani Njuguna,Kiambu
Prioritise citizens’ well-being
The recent revelation that the Ministry of Sports is requesting an additional Sh11.02 billion for Afcon 2027 stadium upgrades is deeply troubling. The request highlights a profound disconnect from the daily realities of regular Kenyans. Citizens are currently navigating an economic crisis marked by expensive fuel, soaring food prices and public hospitals depleted of essential medicines. While hosting the Africa Cup of Nations brings international prestige, it should not come at the expense of human lives and basic dignity. Who is this spending really helping? The government must prioritise the survival and well-being of its citizens over concrete and stadiums.
Kiprotich Dennis, Bomet
Where are the genuine activists?
It’s quite unfortunate that we do not have truthful activists. Recently, a woman died following an acid attack for exposing her political support, but where are the activists to condemn this? When an OCS was arrested over accusations of releasing people seized during protests, activists crowded the hospital where he had been taken for treatment. Activists should stop being selective and seeking political sympathy. They should either remain neutral or join political parties and carry on with politics.
Joshua Mwabali, Nairobi
