Keep off our young girls, Uhuru tells older men

President Uhuru Kenyatta December 1 discouraged relationships involving men and underage girls, saying most sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/Aids, contracted by the young girls are in most cases passed to them by older, married men.

“Let us be honest with each other, children are not to blame for the unplanned pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections. We, the older men, are responsible. We are destroying our future,” said President Kenyatta.

“Tupatie watoto wetu nafasi ya kukua na kuwa watu wa maana ambao watajenga taifa kesho (Let us allow our children to lead normal lives.  Children are our future, and when the future is protected, we are safe),” the President said in his speech during the commemoration of the World Aids Day at the Nakuru Athletics Club yesterday.

Speaking in Kiswahili, the President called on Kenyans to shame the sugar daddies when they see them having affairs with girls.

“… that is the is the only way we can stop them,” said the President.

The President said young girls should be protected because they are not in a position to make informed decisions on relationships.

Kenya has lost two million people to HIV and Aids, and an estimated 1.5 million are currently infected. The country has, however, made great strides towards reducing HIV infections.

Data from the National Aids Control Council (NACC) shows that annual HIV infections have reduced from 101,488 in 2013 to 32,027 in 2021.

“The number of Aids-related deaths in 2013 also stood at 58,456, it has, however, come down to 19,486 -- a reduction of 67 per cent,” reads the report.

President Kenyatta pledged renewed zeal towards achieving zero new HIV infections in Kenya in the remaining nine months of his administration.

The Head of State said Kenya had made significant progress in the fight against HIV/Aids in the last eight years, but more needed to be done.